Gender Equality Index 2025: Evidence for a More Inclusive Digital Transition
The Gender Equality Index 2025 by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) provides a clear and updated overview of gender equality across the European Union. With an overall score of 63.4, the EU has gained 10.5 points since 2010 and 7.4 points since 2015, reflecting steady yet gradual improvement of around 0.7 points per year.
The Index structure focuses on six domains (work, money, knowledge, time, power and health) supported by indicators on stereotypes, intersecting inequalities and violence. Health records the highest score, at 86.2, while power is the lowest at 40.5, despite marked progress in recent years. Work scores 69.3, money 73.9, knowledge 57.4 and time 65.0. These results show how education pathways, labour market structures, care responsibilities and leadership representation shape gender equality across the EU.
The 2025 edition aligns with EU priorities such as the digital and green transitions, demographic change and evolving forms of work. The inclusion of updated indicators on ICT specialists, STEM graduates, care responsibilities and perceptions related to stereotypes makes the Index highly relevant for understanding women’s position in the digital economy and for guiding initiatives like Connecting Women in Digital.
Digital and ICT Dimensions of the 2025 Index
Work: labour market trends and the gendered ICT gap
The work domain highlights improvements in employment rates but also persistent differences between women and men. Women’s employment stands at 71%, compared with 81% for men. Unequal access to working hours, limited job opportunities and care responsibilities remain important factors shaping these outcomes.
A significant update in the 2025 Index is the introduction of an indicator on the share of ICT specialists, replacing the previous measure on horizontal segregation. This reflects the central role of digital skills in EU policy and the objective of reaching 20 million ICT specialists by 2030 under the Digital Decade framework.
Despite this ambition, women represent only 2 in 10 ICT specialists in the EU. This proportion has remained stable and illustrates the persistent gender imbalance in digital professions, even though ICT roles typically offer high-quality employment and strong career prospects. The Index links this pattern to broader labour structures, where women remain concentrated in sectors with lower pay and fewer progression opportunities.
These findings show that the digital transition intersects closely with long-standing labour market inequalities and that attracting more women into ICT roles would contribute both to equality and to addressing skills shortages.
Knowledge: STEM pathways and digital education
The knowledge domain (score 57.4) presents a mixed picture. Women are central to the EU’s achievements in tertiary education but remain under-represented in STEM and ICT fields. According to the Index, only one in three STEM graduates is a woman. This imbalance directly affects the supply of talent entering digital and technology sectors.
EU strategies such as the Digital Education Action Plan 2021–2027, the Women in Digital initiative and the Digital Decade targets aim to broaden access to digital skills, promote gender-inclusive learning and encourage diverse role models in science and technology.
The report also highlights perceptions among younger generations: young women are more likely than young men to consider stereotypes a barrier to their opportunities. This indicates the importance of educational environments that actively challenge gender norms and support girls’ and women’s aspirations in STEM and ICT.
Time: care responsibilities and access to digital careers
The time domain, scoring 65.0, underscores the unequal distribution of unpaid care and household tasks. Women dedicate more time to childcare, long-term care and domestic responsibilities, which influences their capacity to engage in paid work, training and continuous skills development: all essential elements for participation in the digital sector.
New evidence from EIGE’s studies on perceptions shows that almost half of respondents believe that men are naturally less competent at household tasks. Additionally, around one in five view men’s uptake of parental leave as a sign of reduced career ambition. These attitudes shape how time is organised in households and workplaces and affect the availability of both women and men to participate in training and career development.
For ICT roles, which often require ongoing learning and adaptability, these time-use patterns are particularly relevant. Ensuring more balanced care arrangements supports broader access to digital opportunities.
Power: representation in decision-making for digital transformation
The power domain records 40.5 points, the lowest across the Index, though it has shown strong progress since 2010. Women hold 39% of seats in the European Parliament after the 2024 elections and 35% of ministerial posts across EU governments.
Decision-making roles in digital policy, research, security and innovation often reflect wider gender disparities. Increasing women’s representation in these areas supports more inclusive governance and ensures that digital transformation considers a broader range of perspectives.
For Connecting Women In Digital, strengthening leadership pathways and visibility for women in digital decision-making complements efforts in education, skills and employment.
Applying the Index to Strengthen Women’s Role in Digital
The Gender Equality Index 2025 offers clear evidence on the structural factors influencing women’s participation in the digital economy. While women achieve strong educational outcomes overall, segregation in STEM, imbalances in ICT roles, unequal care responsibilities and limited representation in decision-making continue to shape access to digital opportunities.
For Connecting Women In Digital, the Index provides guidance for targeted action:
- expanding participation in STEM and digital education;
- supporting women’s entry and progression in ICT professions;
- addressing time-use inequalities affecting training and career development;
- strengthening women’s presence in digital governance;
- challenging gender stereotypes across education, work and leadership.
By integrating these findings into communication, training and policy engagement, we can contribute to a digital transition that supports women’s skills, talents and aspirations across Europe.
