Investing in gender equality to build resilient and inclusive societies
By Marissa Droste, Gender Analyst, Council of Europe Development Bank
Gender equality is both a matter of fairness and a smart investment in Europe’s future. When we invest in women, we strengthen our society’s productivity, resilience and inclusiveness. This International Women’s Day reminds us that progress on gender equality is never guaranteed and requires constant commitment.
Women continue to face greater barriers than men to labour market participation, higher safety concerns in their daily life, and carry out a disproportionate share of unpaid care in their households. In the European Union alone, around 5.9 million women are out of the labour market due to unpaid care obligations, and only one in three businesses are women-led.[1][2] Safety concerns also weigh heavily, with more than half of women reporting that they avoid certain places, routes or modes of transport because they feel unsafe.[3]
These inequalities undermine not only individual wellbeing but also broader societal economic progress. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), improving gender equality could boost EU GDP up to €1.95 – 3.15 trillion by 2050.[4]
As EIGE estimates illustrate, substantial potential goes untapped when women face barriers to full and active participation in society. These estimates also illustrate that, the way social investments are designed and implemented can either reinforce these barriers or help remove them.
This question is central to the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)’s approach to gender equality: do the Bank investments make daily life easier, safer and more accessible for everyone or do they unintentionally leave, or even reinforce, existing inequalities in place?
Why design matters: making infrastructure and services work for everyone
Gender inequalities in Europe shape how people participate in their communities’ lives, and how they navigate through public infrastructure and experience essential services. Because women and men often still perform different roles in society, they do not always benefit equally from these assets, especially because their needs and daily realities are not always fully reflected in design or planning.
Gaps between how infrastructure is designed and people’s lived realities can create unintended disadvantages for the very people these services are intended to support. Bridging these gaps requires investments in the design and planning of inclusive spaces, services and facilities to build resilient and more equitable societies.
Designing infrastructure and services through a gender lens means understanding how women and men travel, find employment, build businesses or seek safety, and adapting features accordingly. This can translate into practical measures such as accessible and safe public transport vehicles, housing designed to support care responsibilities or financial instruments to facilitate women entrepreneurs. These design choices influence directly whether infrastructure and services are usable, safe and accessible for the people they are meant to support.
How CEB investments support women
At the CEB, these lived realities directly guide how we assess social needs and identify gender vulnerabilities. Gender equality is one of our three cross‑cutting priorities within the CEB’s Strategic Framework 2023-2025.[5] Moreover, in 2025, to mainstream gender considerations across the Bank’s operations, the CEB adopted a dedicated gender approach and introduced a gender tag to identify operations with a positive impact on equality.
The CEB now systematically assesses the potential impacts of all operations it finances on gender, to protect the rights of women and girls, and whenever feasible, to enhance positive impact for all. In 2025, 33% of approved investments were tagged as contributing to gender equality, compared to 23% in 2024, reflecting the Bank’s growing commitment to integrate gender considerations into its operations.
When women and men equitably benefit from infrastructure and services, these benefits extend to families, local economies and the society at large. At the same time, meaningful progress on gender equality depends not only on supporting individual women; it also requires engagement and investments in the wider community to create more cohesive environments.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a CEB €3 million loan to Mikra Microcredits allows women entrepreneurs and women‑owned farms to access finance. More than 60% of the loan has gone to women, many of them in rural areas where financing is often hard to obtain. Most loans support agricultural activities, helping women and their families secure livelihoods and invest in the growth of their farms.
Another telling example is the CEB’s upcoming project with the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in Spain, which highlights how a gender-sensitive approach can effectively respond to the intersecting barriers experienced by Roma women. Through training, job placement, education support and awareness-raising activities on gender equality and violence prevention, the project aims to support women navigate pathways to stable employment and offers care to survivors of gender-based violence. The project will also engage Roma men to promote gender equality and prevent gender-based violence.
This year’s International Women’s Day shall serve as a powerful reminder that progress on gender equality is not automatic. It results from deliberate choices in the design and delivery of the infrastructure and services people rely on. Advancing gender equality requires choosing to dismantle, rather than reinforce, the barriers that women continue to face.
For the CEB, it means investing in infrastructure and services that genuinely respond to women’s different needs and realities, ensuring that the projects we finance deliver stronger, better outcomes for men too. Through its expanding portfolio of social investments that advance gender equality, the Bank remains committed to supporting member states deliver safer spaces, inclusive infrastructure and equitable opportunities.
[1] Eurostat, Persons outside the labour force not seeking employment (2024)
[2] Eurochambres Women Entrepreneurs Survey - Unveiling insights from the women entrepreneurs (2025)
[3] EU Agency for FRA. Violence against women: an EU-wide survey (2014)
[4] EIGE. Economic Benefits of Gender Equality in the European Union (2017)