EU Gender Equality Index: women's financial insecurity underpinned by gender stereotypes

The Gender Equality Index 2025, compiled annually by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), finds that gender equality in the EU continues to improve but that substantial inequalities persist across women's working lives and financial wellbeing.

The EU's overall index score for 2025 was 63.4 out of a possible 100, up from 56.0 in 2015 and 52.9 in 2010. At the current rate of progress, full gender equality across the bloc would take at least another 50 years to achieve. Launched in 2013 to help policymakers track progress, the index measures six core dimensions of everyday life including work, money, knowledge, time, power and health, alongside two cross-cutting domains covering violence and intersecting inequalities.

On money, which scored 73.9, women in the EU earn 77% of men's annual income, up from 69% in 2015. The cumulative effect of lower pay, part-time work and career breaks taken for caregiving produces a significant gender pension gap and a higher risk of poverty in later life. Within couples, women earn on average 30% less than their partners, reinforcing financial dependence at home, where men tend to retain strategic control over household finances.

The work dimension scored 69.3. Female labour market participation has risen over the past decade, but access to managerial, IT and other better-paid career paths remains constrained. Women hold 35% of management positions in the EU, an increase of only three percentage points since 2015, and just two in ten IT specialists are women. More young women than men complete tertiary education, but concentration in disciplines perceived as traditionally feminine means that academic success does not translate into equivalent pay, pensions or leadership opportunities.

Attitudes emerge as a persistent constraint. In 2024, 39% of women and 45% of men in the EU still considered a man's most important role to be earning money; among 15- to 24-year-olds the figures were 30% and 43% respectively. A third of women and 42% of men aged 16 to 74 agreed that in the absence of childcare services, mothers should stay at home while fathers prioritise work. Men across age groups also consistently believe they earn more than women because their jobs are more demanding, a view far less widely shared by women.

The index identifies employment as the most effective policy lever for women's financial independence. Research cited by EIGE shows that women in couples respond more sharply than men to financial incentives and disincentives, being more likely to reduce hours or leave the workforce when the tax burden rises or care provision weakens. Addressing occupational segregation and ensuring access to high-quality jobs with equal career prospects, the report concludes, is critical not only to equality but to EU competitiveness, innovation and social cohesion.

Explore the full interactive report here.