The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a High-Level Forum on Women’s Rights, which brought together leading voices to address pressing issues around women’s rights and outline key priorities ahead of the upcoming UN Commission on the Status of Women session.

The message from the EESC High-Level Forum on Women’s Rights was clear: progress has been made, but that is not enough. While the EU has taken steps to protect women and girls, structural forms of inequality, gender stereotypes and backlashes against women’s rights continue to threaten hard-won gains in Europe. As long as structural barriers persist, women’s full participation in society will be limited.

The high-level forum, held on 26 February during the EESC’s plenary session, brought together president of the EESC Ad hoc Group on Equality, Sif Holst, EESC president Oliver Röpke, and the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, as well as Carlien Scheele (Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality), Florence Raes (Director of the UN Women Brussels Office), Ayşe Yürekli (EU Representative at KAGIDER – Women Entrepreneurs of Türkiye), Mary Collins (Secretary-General of the European Women’s Lobby) and Cianán Russell (Senior Policy Officer at ILGA Europe).

The forum featured two dynamic panels addressing urgent gender equality challenges, each tied to key EESC opinions adopted during the session. Experts, advocates and policymakers came together to share insights, propose solutions and reinforce commitments to advancing women’s rights in Europe and beyond.

The first panel focused on the upcoming 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW69) while the second panel centred around violence against women and girls as a human rights issue. Two related opinions were also adopted in plenary following the forum: EESC contribution to the EU’s priorities at the UNCSW69 and Violence against women as a human rights issue. (lm)