Commissioner Lahbibs Speech on Inclusive Futures: Shaping Gender Equality in Europes AI Era
Special thanks to the Polish Presidency for the invitation to celebrate International Womens Rights Day. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a pivotal moment for womens rights. Thirty years ago in Beijing, the EU committed to achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action laid out a transformative agenda to achieve these goals.
We have made progress, but there is still much to do. The world is not yet equal for women and girls. We face a serious backlash against womens rights. Disinformation and online hate are poisoning our digital lives. In the EU, we must stand united and strong. This anniversary year is a moment to reaffirm our commitment and continue to push for womens rights.
Gender equality is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) estimates that improving gender equality by 2050 could increase the EU GDP by over 3 trillion euros. As our economies become increasingly digital, women and girls must play their full role. Gender equality strengthens our societies and builds trust in democratic institutions. This is especially important as digitalisation impacts democracies worldwide.
That is why the Commission is presenting a Roadmap for Womens Rights to reaffirm the EUs political commitment to the fundamental right of gender equality. This Roadmap sets out a long-term vision with key principles and policy goals to make gender equality a reality. It focuses on todays challenges — in society, economy, and the revolutionary digital technologies.
This Roadmap will be our guiding light on womens rights, independent from the changing winds of politics. We invite other institutions, especially the Council, to join the Roadmap. This Roadmap will serve as a basis for developing concrete measures in our upcoming Gender Equality Strategy post-2025.
It addresses major womens rights principles, such as:
- Freedom from gender-based violence: the Commission is determined to make the internet a safe place for women and girls.
- Health, equal pay, economic empowerment, work-life balance and care, equal employment opportunities, and adequate working conditions.
- Quality and inclusive education: We want to support specific skills and critical thinking, including tackling disinformation, bullying, and online hate speech.
- Equal representation and political participation, including the safety of women in public life and zero tolerance towards violence, hatred or harassment, including online.
- And ensuring that our Institutions make gender and womens rights part of all our policies, including digital policy.
But we cant do it alone. We need everyone on board — at national, regional, local, and international levels.
Artificial Intelligence is no longer science fiction. It is the here and now. We need to seize the opportunities and address the risks, and this must be a priority for the coming years, including from the perspective of gender equality.
Women can be at risk of algorithmic discrimination in AI decision-making in areas like job applications or applying for bank loans. Sexually explicit AI-generated images are on the rise, such as “deepfakes” and “deepnudes”. They can be easily produced by common AI applications. AI systems often learn from data that can contain gender stereotypes. This can spread stereotypes -- in text, images, and video.
The EU tech sector is also strongly imbalanced — over eight out of ten workers are men, with a 20% gender pay gap. This is a real concern in AI systems development and training. More diversity and more inclusion, that is how we will tackle stereotypes and biases.
In recent years, the EU has adopted landmark legislation to create a safer and fairer online space for women. Implementing the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence is crucial for fighting cyber violence. Our Digital Services Act requires online platforms to assess risks and propose measures against issues like gender-based violence from AI systems.
The Commission is working on a new cooperation framework for internet platforms that builds on the Digital Services Act and the Violence Against Women Directive. We will streamline gender equality throughout the implementation of the AI Act.
Lets make 2025 a year to remember and a year of real progress in making the world safer and fairer for our women and girls.
Together – we can make it happen.