The European Commission makes progress on gender parity, but men still dominate top jobs.

This was the headline of a recent Euractiv article based on new research analysing nearly 21,000 European Commission staff members between 2019 and 2024. The findings paint a more nuanced picture than the numbers alone suggest.

Read the article HERE.

Yes, the Commission has made significant progress towards gender parity under President Ursula von der Leyen's mandate. But that progress has not been evenly distributed. While women are now close to parity in many policy roles and even outnumber men at some mid-career levels, they remain underrepresented in the senior positions where Europe's policies, budgets and strategic priorities are shaped.

Perhaps the most interesting question isn't whether progress has been made, but why it has happened faster in some parts of the institution than in others.

Why have Directorates-General such as DIGIT or ENER significantly increased the representation of women, while other policy areas remain overwhelmingly male? What role do organisational culture, leadership and career pathways play? And what lessons can institutions draw from the places where change has genuinely taken hold?

The discussion will be moderated by Elisa Braun, Chief Brussels Correspondent at Euractiv. Notably, two panelists will be joining us: Pinuccia Contino, Deputy Director for Equality and Non-Discrimination and Head of the Gender Equality Unit at the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST), and Alexander Katsaitis, Associate Professor and Deputy Director of Studies, at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University, and visiting Professor at the College of Europe.

Together, we'll use this newly published research as the starting point for a wider conversation about gender, leadership and power inside Europe's policymaking institutions. The data will provide the backdrop, but the discussion will go beyond the figures to explore the structural dynamics that shape careers, influence and decision-making within the European Commission.

We'll also open the conversation to the room, inviting participants to reflect on the findings, share their own perspectives, and consider what meaningful progress looks like across European institutions.

Whether you work in EU affairs, public policy, diplomacy or are simply interested in how institutions evolve, this promises to be an evening of thoughtful conversation about one of the defining questions facing European leadership today.