By European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib
I have a dream. Not the dream of Martin Luther King Jr., but my own. A dream where freedom does not hesitate at my daughter’s doorstep. A dream where it does not skip a generation before reaching my granddaughter. A dream where gender describes, but never confines. Where being born a girl is not a risk factor. That is my dream, and I refuse to whisper it. I am determined to make it real.
This is the right moment because we are living through a time of backlash against women’s rights. We are told we are making progress. Yet too often, this progress is weaponised against women and girls. Technology meant to connect us now divides us. Online bots amplify hatred. Deepfakes steal women’s faces and voices, stripping them of dignity and turning innovation into intimidation.
Because in politics and in business, old stereotypes wear new suits. Bias no longer shouts; it codes, it calculates, it quietly excludes. And as we argue in digital echo chambers, a deeper fracture widens. Girls and boys drift apart, mistrust replaces understanding, and polarisation replaces partnership.
This is not the future we were promised. It is not the future I want for my granddaughter.
When I took office a bit over a year ago, I decided that wishful thinking is not enough. Vision must become law. Hope must translate into policy. Words must become protection.
We are not starting from scratch. Since the 2020 Gender Equality Strategy, Europe has moved from promises to progress. We have passed historic laws to end gender-based violence, to ensure pay transparency, to strengthen work-life and to increase the number of women in leadership. This shows what the EU can achieve when we are determined.
In 2023, we took a historic step by joining the Istanbul Convention, making one thing clear: protecting women is not only a national responsibility, but a European obligation. Last year, every single Member State and the European Parliament endorsed the eight fundamental principles under the Roadmap for Women's Rights, a shared commitment to protect, empower and enable every woman and girl to reach her full potential.
We are on the right path, but progress must never breed complacency. It should never be used as an excuse for inaction. The remaining gaps can and must be bridged, and I am committed to closing them.
Just last week, we presented the new Gender Equality Strategy. The strategy is clear-eyed about the challenges we face. It addresses the growing threats that disproportionately affect women and girls, such as cyberviolence or AI deepfakes. It also tackles the harmful online narratives that drive a wedge between boys and girls, weaken our societies, and erode trust in our democracies.
Our goal is straightforward yet ambitious. We want gender equality in every sphere of life: online and offline, in health and in education, and by empowering women economically and ensuring they have a voice in decision-making. Everyone benefits from gender equality, and we need everyone on board to achieve it. Men, women, boys, girls, of every age, every background, every culture, every belief need to be involved.
Equality is a shared reward. The gender employment gap alone is estimated to cost the EU €390 billion every year. That is talent left unused, innovation left untapped. Europe cannot afford this inefficiency.
Today, I dare to hope because we are doing the work to build a competitive Union where everyone can be who they want, regardless of gender: whether as scientists or nurses, mathematicians or pilots, entrepreneurs or caregivers, CEOs or politicians. A true Union of equality. As European Commissioner for Equality, I will keep this goal in mind in every decision I take.
The International Day for Women’s Rights is a moment to celebrate. But it also reminds us that women’s rights were never handed down as gifts. They were won through hard work, persistence, and solidarity, in Europe and beyond. We will not retreat from that legacy. We will protect hard-won rights, reignite stalled progress, and resist attempts to turn back the clock.
Because our granddaughters deserve more than a dream. They deserve a world that stands firmly by their side.
The moment is now.