Progress on Gender Equality in the EU – Slow, with Lithuania Below the EU Average
Full gender equality in the European Union may still be decades away, according to the 2025 report by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). Overall, the EU Gender Equality Index for 2025 stands at 63.4 points out of a possible 100.
Decision-making – the weakest but fastest-growing area
Analysis of the EU index shows that while the participation of women and men in decision-making is rated the lowest, this area has seen the largest positive change in recent years. Progress is also evident in the fields of finance and work.
Health and finance – the best-performing areas
The highest index score was recorded in the health domain, with 86.2 points. Finance ranked second, scoring 73.9 out of 100. This domain includes women’s and men’s earnings, overall disposable income including pensions, social benefits, investments, and other income sources, as well as the risk of poverty and income distribution between women and men.
Work and education – higher education does not guarantee equal opportunities
EIGE data also show that income gaps between partners have decreased in recent years, but full equality in earnings and pensions has not yet been achieved. Disparities are greater among those with lower education levels and among couples with children.
The work domain ranks third, with 69.3 points out of 100. It evaluates participation in employment and working hours, considering part-time work prevalence, sectoral gender segregation, job flexibility, and career prospects. Closely linked is the education domain, which remains strongly associated with gender segregation.
While more young women than men graduate from higher education, they often choose traditionally “feminized” fields of study, meaning academic success does not translate into equal opportunities in the labor market. This is reflected in employment: women remain underrepresented in leadership positions, with unequal pay and pensions persisting. Women continue to spend significantly more time than men on unpaid care and household work, leaving less time for social activities and leisure.
Gender equality progress in the EU – Lithuania among the widening-gap countries
EIGE classifies countries into groups based on the pace of gender equality progress. Countries exceeding the EU average fall into the “upward convergence” group. Lithuania, however, is still classified among the “upward divergence” countries, meaning it gradually improves its results, but the EU average is improving faster. In this group, Lithuania is alongside Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, and others.
Lithuania’s results – progress in decision-making and finance
In 2025, Lithuania scored 60.9 points out of 100 on the EIGE Gender Equality Index, ranking 14th in the EU. Since 2015, the country’s index has increased by 9.2 points, mainly due to improvements in women’s and men’s participation in decision-making and the finance domain. In finance, strong results are driven by high scores in financial resources (85.8 points, 5th in the EU) and economic situation (78.1 points, 10th in the EU).
Health, decision-making, and the labor market – Lithuania’s greatest challenges
Health is the area where Lithuania faces the greatest need for gender equality improvement, ranking 24th with 79.8 points. Lower scores are due to unfavorable health status and behavior indicators. Decision-making remains the weakest domain, receiving the lowest score among all areas. Women’s representation in decision-making positions in Lithuania remains insufficient: in leadership roles, Parliament, regional councils, and company boards, women make up roughly one-third.
Women’s employment in Lithuania is among the highest in the EU. Despite this, only one in five ICT specialists is female, a figure that has declined by 3 percentage points since 2015. Four out of five graduates in social sciences, humanities, and arts are women. Overall, women are more likely than men to obtain higher education, particularly in the 30–34 age group.
The burden of household work in Lithuania continues to fall primarily on women, who perform domestic chores far more frequently than men. This gender gap is similar among couples with and without children, but more pronounced in older age groups. Women are also more likely than men to spend over five hours per day caring for children under 11.
EIGE data show that while Lithuania is making progress in certain areas, especially finance and decision-making, significant gender equality gaps remain in health, the labor market, and unpaid work. These continue to pose major challenges for shaping equal opportunity policies in the country.