This report was written in the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS), under the leadership of Stefano Scarpetta (Director), Mark Pearson (Deputy Director), and Monika Queisser (Senior Counsellor and Head of Social Policy), and was managed by Valerie Frey (Senior Economist).
Jasmin Thomas, Valentina Patrini, Doron Wijker, Pinar Guven, Maxime Ladaique, Jayne Maddock and Capucine Kerboas, all of the OECD, contributed to the report.
The OECD is grateful to the European Commission Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) for their support of this project. Special thanks are due to DG JUST counterparts Katja Lenzing, Greet Vermeylen, Emanuela Tassa and Louisa Gzenai Makboul for the fruitful collaboration, as well as Irena Moozova (Deputy Director-General – International Dimension of Justice Policies, Rule of Law and Equality), Ana Carla Pereira (Director – Equality and Non-Discrimination) and Karen Vandekerckhove (Head of Unit – Gender Equality) for senior oversight.
The authors thank OECD and affiliated colleagues for their valuable feedback, including Brigitte Acoca, Willem Adema, Nadim Ahmad, Darman Bacha, Carlotta Balestra, Eliana Barrenho, Carolin Beck, Francesca Borgonovi, Celine Caira, Julia Carro, Bopha Chhun, Chris Clarke, Stefani Cooper, Marta Encinas-Martín, Carrie Exton, Jonas Fluchtmann, David Halabisky, Alice Holt, Raphaela Hyee, Marguerita Lane, Chloé Lelievre, Molly Lesher, Maciej Lis, Mikaël Maes, Pascal Marianna, Réka Mihácsi, Daniel Nachtigall, Hyeshin Park, Felizia Pasteiner, Hanna Pawelec, Monika Queisser, Glenda Quintini, Liva Stokenberga, Elina Suzuki and Marieke Vandeweyer.
The OECD appreciates the generous involvement of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in the planning, research and feedback stages of this report, including at a dedicated EIGE / OECD ELS / EC DG JUST meeting in December 2023. The OECD is also thankful to the experts who participated in workshops in Brussels in April 2024 and October 2024, and online in May 2025, who provided useful feedback on drafts of the report: Laura Addati (International Labour Organization (ILO)), Giorgia Antonucci (Business Europe), Martina Bisello (European Environment Agency), Anne Boring (Sciences Po), Julien Bourgeois (SME United), Aline Brüser (European Trade Union Confederation), Cristina Fabre Rosell (European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)), Colette Fagan (University of Manchester), Sébastien Fontenay (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Camille Gangloff (Council of Europe (COE)), Roger Gomis (ILO), Sebastian Gonzalez (COFACE), Elizabeth Gosme (COFACE Families Europe), Karen Johnston (University of Portsmouth), Helena Morais Maceira (EIGE), Agnès Parent-Thirion (Eurofound), Yanna Parnin (COE), Jolanta Reingarde (EIGE), Cloe Rossenbacker (COFACE Families Europe), Linda Senden (Utrecht University), Katharina Wrohlich (Berlin School of Economics) and Mara Yerkes (Utrecht University).
The authors appreciate the communications and publication support provided by colleagues Natalie Corry, Lucy Hulett, Hanna Varkki and Alastair Wood, as well as the administrative and technical support offered by colleagues Brigitte Beyeler, Marie-Aurélie Elkurd, Sandra Gandy, Jayne Maddock, Nicholas Tetzlaff, Helena Treadwell-Guedj and Barbara Wator.
This report would not have been possible without the reliable support of officials working at government ministries in EU and OECD countries who completed the OECD’s 2024 Questionnaire on Policy Combinations for Gender Equality; delegates at the November 2024 meeting of the Working Party on Social Policy (WPSP) who provided feedback on chapters of the report; delegates to the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC) who coordinated responses to the OECD Secretariat’s 2024 Questionnaire on Policy Combinations for Gender Equality and provided feedback on the report; and the many civil servants at government ministries in EU and OECD member countries who reviewed and provided feedback on the report. Their ongoing commitment to gender equality is invaluable.
This document was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.