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having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union,

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having regard to Articles 8, 153(1) and 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the ‘Charter’),

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having regard to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and, in particular, goal 5,

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having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

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having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination,

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having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,

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having regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action of 15 September 1995 and the outcomes of its review conferences,

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having regard to Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966,

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having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence,

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having regard to the joint communication from the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 25 November 2020 entitled ‘EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III — an ambitious agenda for gender equality and women’s empowerment in EU external action 2021-2025’ (JOIN(2020)0017), and to the accompanying Joint Staff Working Document entitled ‘Objectives and Indicators to frame the implementation of the Gender Action Plan III (2021-25)’ (SWD(2020)0284),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 3 March 2021 entitled ‘Union of Equality: Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030’ (COM(2021)0101),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 18 September 2020 entitled ‘A Union of equality: EU anti-racism action plan 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0565),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 7 October 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation’ (COM(2020)0620),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 12 October 2020 entitled ‘Union of Equality: LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0698),

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having regard to Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (1) (‘Racial Equality Directive’),

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having regard to Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (2) (‘Employment Equality Directive’),

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having regard to the Generation Equality Forum held from 29 to 31 March 2021 in Mexico City, and from 30 June to 2 July 2021 in Paris,

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having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the gender perspective in the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period (3),

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having regard to its resolution of 24 June 2021 on the situation of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU, in the frame of women’s health (4),

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having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2022 on the EU Gender Action Plan III (5),

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having regard to its resolution of 17 September 2020 on the implementation of National Roma Integration Strategies: combating negative attitudes towards people with Romani background in Europe (6),

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having regard to its resolution of 26 March 2019 on fundamental rights of people of African descent in Europe (7),

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having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) report entitled ‘Intersecting inequalities: Gender Equality Index 2019’,

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having regard to the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C) report of 29 June 2021 entitled ‘Resistance as a Way of Living: Lesbian lives through the COVID-19 Pandemic’,

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having regard to the EL*C report of 1 October 2021 entitled ‘Lesbophobia: an intersectional form of violence’,

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having regard to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report of 14 May 2020 entitled ‘A long way to go for LGBTI equality’ (FRA LGBTI Survey II),

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having regard to the EL*C report of 7 February 2022 entitled ‘A bitter pill to swallow: gaps and discriminations in access to healthcare for lesbians’,

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having regard to the European Network against Racism (ENAR) report of 14 September 2020 entitled ‘Intersectional discrimination in Europe: relevance, challenges and ways forward’,

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having regard to the Commission’s ‘Guidance note on the collection and use of equality data based on racial or ethnic origin’ (8),

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having regard to the European Network of Equality Bodies report entitled ‘Collection and Use of Complaints Data by Equality Bodies’ (9),

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having regard to the European Handbook on Equality Data (10),

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having regard to the Commission’s common guiding principles for national action plans against racism and racial discrimination of March 2022,

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having regard to the ENAR shadow report entitled ‘Racism & Discrimination in Employment in Europe 2013-2017’ (11),

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having regard to the UN International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024,

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having regard to the FRA report of 4 April 2019 entitled ‘Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey — Roma women in nine EU Member States’ (12),

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having regard to the FRA report of 15 November 2019 entitled ‘Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey — Being Black in the EU’ (13),

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having regard to the Center for Intersectional Justice fact sheet of April 2020 entitled ‘Intersectionality at a Glance in Europe’ (14),

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having regard to the UN Women and UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities resource kit published in 2021, entitled ‘Intersectionality Resources and Toolkit: An Intersectional Approach to Leave No One Behind’ (15),

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having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the letter from the Committee on Culture and Education,

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having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0190/2022),

A.

whereas many women face intersecting inequalities and discrimination in the EU; whereas intersectional discrimination refers to a situation in which several grounds of discrimination operate and interact with each other, for example gender with other grounds of discrimination, such as race, colour, ethnic or socio-economic status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex characteristics, genetic features, religion or belief, nationality, residence status, migrant background, or disability, among others, in a way that is inseparable and produces specific types of discrimination;

B.

whereas intersectional discrimination differs from multiple discrimination, which occurs when each type of discrimination can be proved and treated independently; whereas in the case of intersectional discrimination, the grounds of discrimination are intertwined, which creates a unique type of discrimination; whereas intersectionality allows a perspective that accounts for intersecting grounds without prioritising one over the other; whereas an intersectional approach caters to the multidimensionality of people’s experiences and identities and entails a bottom-up approach; whereas using an intersectionality approach in analysis and policies requires thinking differently about identity, equality and power imbalances;

C.

whereas applying an intersectional analysis allows us to address and understand social inequalities, exclusion and discrimination from a comprehensive, systemic and structural perspective, while overcoming a single-axis approach to discrimination; whereas EU policies have not involved an intersectional approach thus far; whereas they have focused only on the individual dimensions of discrimination, which downplays its institutional, structural and historical dimensions;

D.

whereas the impact of racism and the process of racialisation is often overlooked as an important phenomenon preventing equality in Europe; whereas intersectional policies cannot be implemented without centring racialised people at the intersections of discrimination;

E.

whereas the achievement of gender equality cannot occur if all multiples types of discrimination, intentional and unintentional, in their individual, structural, institutional and historical forms, have not been eradicated; whereas applying an intersectional approach aims to examine the intersections between racism/colonialism, economic inequality and patriarchy; whereas traditional anti-discrimination laws fail to combat all forms of discrimination and their compounded negative effects on the women concerned and not all Member States explicitly cover multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination in their national legislation (16);

F.

whereas women are not a homogenous category and understanding their diversity is key to ensuring that policymaking does not continue to directly or indirectly discriminate and/or render certain groups of women invisible, for example socioeconomically disadvantaged women of African, Middle-Eastern, Latin-American, Romani and Asian descent; whereas women, particularly women with disabilities, migrant and ethnic minority women, Black women, women of colour, Roma women, older women, women with lower education levels, women with health problems, and LGBTI+ women, are more often subject to multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination;

G.

whereas a key challenge in operationalising intersectionality and addressing intersecting forms of discrimination is the absence of intersectional equality data; whereas the paucity of relevant data leads to serious shortcomings and prevents the EU and Member States from actively monitoring the situation of inequality and addressing and analysing the extent of intersectional discrimination in Europe, including the situation of minority and marginalised groups; whereas some Member States currently do not collect this kind of data thus leaving groups of people invisible in policymaking; whereas the collection of such data, particularly on race, ethnicity and disability, should be provided voluntarily and anonymously in accordance with data protection standards and in line with the Istanbul Convention;

H.

whereas implementing intersectional policy means undertaking thorough impact assessments of policies and legislation, removing measures that are detrimental to marginalised groups at the intersections of discrimination and securing the meaningful participation of people affected by inequalities in all their diversity in designing, adopting and implementing policies and measures;

I.

whereas women subjected to intersecting types of discrimination face multiple obstacles in accessing the formal labour market, leaving them vulnerable to discrimination, poverty, economic exploitation, social exclusion and gender-based violence, including sexual harassment and mistreatment; whereas across the EU 91 % of Black women are overqualified in their jobs, compared with 48 % of white women, and consistently deal with discrimination and micro-aggressions, resulting in higher rates of burnout; whereas the recognition of diplomas acquired abroad can still represent a significant challenge;

J.

whereas nearly three quarters (72 %) of all victims of trafficking in the EU and 92 % of the victims trafficked for sexual exploitation are women and girls; whereas women in precarious situations facing poor housing conditions, social exclusion and discrimination are even more vulnerable;

K.

whereas in the field of employment, women continue to be overrepresented in precarious and low-payed sectors, which can lead to them facing discrimination, sexual harassment and mistreatment; whereas barriers to joining and remaining in the labour market are often amplified by the intersection of gender with additional factors, for example racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation, and have significant detrimental economic and social consequences for Member States; whereas as result of these barriers, racialised women tend to predominantly engage in occupations with a higher risk of developing occupational diseases;

L.

whereas migrant women are victims of racism and xenophobia throughout the EU; whereas this contributes to poverty and social exclusion and consequently makes it difficult to get access to resources and basic social services, such as health care, housing, social security, and access to the employment market, education, training and work promotion; whereas nearly one in three non-EU born women work in precarious jobs in the EU and 18 % of migrant women are at risk of poverty;

M.

whereas women from the most marginalised groups account for the majority of lowest paid positions in care services, doing the heaviest, indirect care work or domestic work and often face gender segregation, racism, poor working conditions and pay and violence and harassment at work (17); whereas the precarious situation faced by migrant domestic workers, who are primarily racialised women, and especially young workers, is an example where the intersectionality of race, gender, socio-economic status and nationality is visible; whereas in most EU countries, long-term residence work permits are often available only for highly skilled and highly paid jobs, relegating medium- and low-skilled workers to exploitation and precarious contracts in undervalued sectors;

N.

whereas only 20 % of women with disabilities are in full-time employment in the EU and have significantly lower incomes (18); whereas estimates indicate that 22 % are at risk of poverty or social exclusion; whereas women with disabilities face significant barriers to education, with 13 % of women with disabilities in the EU having a university degree compared with 29 % of women without disabilities;

O.

whereas on several occasions, the respondents in the FRA LGBTI Survey II highlight additional grounds for discrimination, with 40 % facing additional discrimination on account of being a member of an ethnic minority or having an immigrant background, 15 % on account of their skin colour, 36 % on account of having a disability and 28 % on account of religion; whereas afrophobia, islamophobia, antigypsism and antisemitism are widespread forms of racism in the EU and are often fostered through populist and right-wing discourses;

P.

whereas lesbophobia must be understood as violence at the intersection of homophobia and misogyny, constituting a type of violence with its own roots, patterns, modes and consequences formed by this intersectional experience; whereas one in six lesbian or bisexual women (16 %) reported episodes of discrimination when accessing healthcare or social services;

Q.

whereas the high unemployment rate among Roma women cannot be explained by one single factor, such as discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, gender or socio-economic background, as these grounds are mutually reinforcing; whereas only 16 % of Roma women are employed compared with 34 % of Roma men; whereas they also lack adequate access to education and more than a quarter (28 %) of Roma women, compared with 6 % of Roma men, are engaged in unpaid domestic work, including care of children and relatives, reinforcing the difficulty of breaking the poverty cycle;

R.

whereas the prevalence of discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin remains consistently high, both over time and across different population groups in different Member States; whereas FRA survey data show that people with racial, ethnic minority or migrant backgrounds (including Roma, Muslims, Jews and people of African descent) regularly experience high levels of discrimination based on their ethnic or racial origin as well as their religion or belief in different areas of life; whereas islamophobia and antisemitism are persistent forms of hatred and discrimination; whereas 71 % of Jewish people at least occasionally avoid carrying or displaying items that reveal them to be Jewish; whereas more than one third (39 %) of all Muslim women who wear religious dress in public have experienced inappropriate staring or offensive gestures;

S.

whereas high degrees of prejudice and the subsequent policies concerning the display of religious symbols and clothing further trigger unequal treatment and multiply the related barriers, which has a particularly negative impact on Muslim women, when accessing the labour market and housing, excluding them from the public space and any form of meaningful participation in societal processes and decisions, thereby keeping them in a precarious socio-economic situation;

T.

whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing structural gender inequalities, in particular for girls and women from marginalised groups, and whereas reports of gender-based violence due to lockdown measures have risen rapidly; whereas the pandemic had a disproportionate effect on the job stability of all women, but in particular Black women, women of colour and women from ethnic minorities, and whereas the economic and job recovery is lagging behind specifically for Black women compared with White women;

U.

whereas racialised women, women from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, women with disabilities, migrant women and LGBTIQ+ people face additional barriers and violence in accessing health care and health information, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, as a result of discriminatory laws and policies, stigma and stereotypes; whereas these women are more likely to face gynaecological and obstetrical violence during pregnancy and the delivery, and whereas a lack of comprehensive education and the unavailability of methods of contraception affect them in a disproportional way; whereas the training of healthcare professionals can be beneficial in this regard, ensuring the basic right of access to healthcare services, which should also include access to high-quality and targeted mental health facilities;

V.

whereas racialised women are more likely to have their symptoms dismissed by medical providers as medical education in many Member States does not address diseases and symptoms that affect women of African, Middle-Eastern, Latin-American and Asian descent; whereas in some European countries Black women are four times as likely and Asian women twice as likely to die in childbirth compared with White women, and women of African descent have a higher risk of dying from life-threatening diseases even though these are less prevalent among them; whereas improving access to health care, as well as preventing, eliminating and penalising all forms of discrimination which limit access to health care for all women, is essential in order to reinforce women’s ability to exercise their fundamental rights;

W.

whereas Roma women still face racism and discrimination in access to health care and support services in the case of violence; whereas in some Member States Roma women still experience ethnic segregation in reproductive healthcare settings, facing increased forms of verbal, physical, and psychological violence and harassment, including during childbirth, and are often victims of trafficking and/or sexual exploitation; whereas Roma women and women with disabilities have been subjected throughout their history to systematic practices of forced and coercive sterilisation in the EU and many have been denied effective remedies;

X.

whereas LGBTQI people across Europe still face discrimination when accessing healthcare services, with 16 % of survey respondents reporting that they have felt discriminated against by healthcare or social services staff because of their identity, and whereas trans people report especially high levels of transphobic and disrespectful behaviour towards them by healthcare personnel; whereas in several Member States trans people are subjected to the practice of forced sterilisation or medicalisation, both of which violate human rights standards;

Y.

whereas social and legal changes, as well as research in the medical and biological field, have led to the recognition of diversity in the definition of ‘sex’ in addition to women and men; whereas sex discrimination has been interpreted in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union more broadly to include transgender persons who undergo medical transition;

Z.

whereas intersecting types of discrimination can have a serious impact on the life of victims of gender-based violence such as female or intersex genital mutilation, for example by limiting or impeding their access to the prevention, support and protection services they need as a result of a combination of types of discrimination and cultural and linguistic barriers, leading to an increased risk of complications or having a negative impact on their mental health; whereas professionals entering in contact with victims of gender-based violence often lack training, including on intersectionality; whereas gender-based violence is both the consequence and one of the causes of persisting gender inequalities;

AA.

whereas 1 in 3 trans people experience discrimination when searching for employment and this number increases to 1 in 2 trans women; whereas 26 % of trans women in the EU have experienced homelessness at some time in their lives and 25 % say they are able to make ends meet only with difficulty or great difficulty; whereas racialised trans women in the EU experience unique and extraordinary structural and institutional discrimination that impacts their access to education, employment, health care and housing and their ability to remain out of poverty or social exclusion;

AB.

whereas the quality of housing is often poorer for marginalised groups, which leads to higher exposure to harmful environmental influences resulting in diseases for them and their children; whereas the current rise in energy prices will have a stronger impact on women from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds;

AC.

whereas women with disabilities are 10 times more likely to experience physical or sexual assault than women without disabilities; whereas trans women and intersex persons experience more physical violence and sexual assaults than other LGBTQ+ categories; whereas 27 % of Muslim women of African descent who indicated that they wear religious dress outside of the house report that they have experienced inappropriate staring or offensive gestures, 15 % have experienced verbal insults or offensive comments and 2 % have been physically attacked;

AD.

whereas too many women, and particularly migrant and ethnic minority women, Black women, women of colour and LGBTIQ+ women, continue to be subjected to sexual harassment in public spaces and in the workplace because of persisting stereotypes and are at higher risk of economic and sexual exploitation;

AE.

whereas hate speech and hate crime against persons of Asian origin, particularly members of Chinese communities, or those perceived to be of Asian origin, increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, including racist attacks and beatings, violent bullying, threats, racist abuse and cyber violence;

AF.

whereas criminal justice systems and law enforcement should take into account an intersectional approach as a legal concept in their practices and decisions to avoid exacerbating discrimination, poverty and exclusion, which could have a detrimental impact particularly on women in all their diversity from vulnerable groups;

AG.

whereas the under-reporting and under-recording of hate-motivated crimes, violence and verbal abuse remain a challenge owing to a lack of trust in public authorities and to structural barriers; whereas this entails the risk that governments do not see the prevalence, thus do not see the structural problem and therefore fail to act; whereas 88 % of hate-motivated physical attacks against Roma people are not reported, together with 79 % of the most serious antisemitic harassment incidents, and 80 % of cases of physical or sexual violence against LGBTIQ+ people; whereas this impunity represents not only the risk of repeating and aggravating violence, but also the risk of victims feeling disregarded and forgotten by society;

AH.

whereas LGBTIQ+ children and those with a minority racial or ethnic background are targets of discrimination, which hinders them in accessing key services such as education; whereas across all EU Member States, 80 % of people from the LGBTIQ+ community experienced bullying at school due to their real or perceived sexual orientation and whereas Roma children and children with disabilities are often excluded from mainstream inclusive education; whereas children of rainbow families are often stigmatised, making them targets of discrimination and bullying that affects their educational performance and employment prospects, their daily lives and their personal and family well-being;

AI.

whereas high-quality, inclusive, comprehensive and appropriate education on equality, respect and tolerance starting at a very early stage is the best tool for tackling racism and discrimination on multiple grounds and building inclusive societies (19);

AJ.

whereas women facing intersectional discrimination are at a higher risk of having their children taken into state custody and being denied adequate financial support to raise their children;

AK.

whereas social biases and structural inequalities may be integrated into new technologies, including artificial intelligence, and this is a matter of concern;

AL.

whereas although ending child marriage is considered a priority in the 2015-2019 Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, the EU Gender Action Plan for 2016-2020 and the EU Strategic engagement to gender equality 2016-2019, it still occurs in some Member States; whereas this issue is widespread in marginalised communities, affected by low levels of education and high rates of poverty; whereas although the Istanbul Convention calls for criminalising the act of forcing a child to enter into marriage, some Member States still refuse to ratify it and in their legislation they allow child marriage;

AM.

whereas women’s NGOs and their networks make a considerable contribution to upholding women’s rights and combating discrimination against women;

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