To achieve quicker de facto gender equality, Commission and Member States should adopt and implement specific gender equality policies, Parliament said in a resolution adopted on its last plenary session. Improving the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women also belongs to the women's right agenda, including enabling fathers to share family responsibilities by taking paternity leave.

The resolution on Beijing +15 – UN Platform for Action for Gender Equality was adopted by a show of hands. This resolution - based on oral questions to Council and Commission - assesses the targets set at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.

Efforts must be made to strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights in Europe and globally, as an integral part of the women’s rights agenda, according to the resolution. MEPs stress that abortion should not be promoted as a method of family planning and that women who have had recourse to abortion should receive humane treatment and counselling.

It is crucial to involve men and boys actively in programmes to promote gender equality, believes Parliament. Men should be offered realistic opportunities to share family responsibilities with women on an equal footing, especially with paternity leave. This is a fact that has been recently debated by the European Parliament, which has proposed to reform the parental leave.

MEPs point out that despite the efforts made, the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action have not been achieved 15 years later. They stress that inequality and gender stereotypes persist, with women remaining in a position subordinate to men.

A strong gender equality priority or chapter should be included in the revision of the Lisbon Strategy, accompanied by new targets, and links with the Beijing Platform for Action should be strengthened, according to the resolution.

Parliament urges the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to develop strategies and tools for gender mainstreaming, particularly in the areas of gender impact assessment and gender budgeting, and welcomes Spanish Presidency's efforts to improve gender equality in the EU. MEPs also urge EIGE to promote exchanges of knowledge between Member States in all fields addressed in the Beijing Platform.