The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 5 on gender equality, which is embedded in the European Commission’s Priorities under 'An economy that works for people'and 'A new push for European democracy'.

SDG 5 aims at achieving gender equality by, among other things, ending all forms of discrimination, violence, and any harmful practices against women and girls in the public and private spheres. In order to promote women’s social and economic empowerment, it calls for recognition and value of unpaid care and domestic work, equal rights and access to economic and natural resources, technology, basic and financial services and property.

The indicator is included as a headline indicator in the Social Scoreboard for the European Pillar of Social Rights.

Increasing female labour market participation and the equal economic independence of women and men is one of the priorities of the EU Gender Equality Strategy, which commits to achieving a Union of Equality. The EU Gender Equality Strategy presents policy objectives and actions to make significant progress by 2025 towards a gender-equal Europe, where women and men, girls and boys, are free to pursue their chosen path in life and have equal opportunities to thrive. The key objectives are ending gender-based violence; challenging gender stereotypes; closing gender gaps in the labour market; achieving equal participation across different sectors of the economy; addressing the gender pay and pension gaps; closing the gender care gap and achieving gender balance in decision-making and in politics.

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