European Commission - Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019

The Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016-2019 describes how gender equality actions will be focused on five priority areas, namely:

• Increasing female labour market participation and equal economic independence;
• Reducing the gender pay, earnings and pension gaps and thus fighting poverty among women;
• Promoting equality between women and men in decision-making;
• Combating gender based-violence, including trafficking in human beings and protecting and supporting victims;
• Promoting gender equality and women's rights across the world.

In addition, it emphasises the need to integrate a gender equality perspective into all EU policies as well as into EU funding programmes.

Combating gender-based violence and protecting and supporting victims is set as a key objectives and one of the key actions to achieve this is to continue implementation of measures set out in the Communication 'Towards the elimination of female genital mutilation' and use appropriate instruments to eradicate FGM and build on this experience to tackle other harmful practices, as well as develop a web-based knowledge platform on FGM for relevant professionals.