Technology, Employment and Wellbeing

This issue focuses on the contributions from Gender5+. Women’s everyday experiences are embedded in the intersections of economic and social inequalities, the undervaluation of care work, the persistence of violence, unequal access to power, and the growing use of AI technologies that reproduce biases and create new forms of abuse, threatening wellbeing and safety.

Gender5+ is the first independent European Feminist Think Tank, which is committed to European integration and a future built on gender equality, respect for human rights and sustainability.

The first article by Barbara Helfferich shows how online violence against young women reflects longstanding gender inequalities, amplified by digital platforms, and calls for a shift in Europe from reactive measures to structural solutions.

In a similar vein, the second article by Chiara Gianferotti and Alazne Irigoien Domínguez argues that, although the European Care Strategy is a step forward, it fails to address the deeper structural inequalities shaping care work.

Likewise, the third article by Valentina Maglietta highlights that the EU Pay Transparency Directive represents important progress, but stresses that its effectiveness ultimately depends on strong implementation and broader structural reforms beyond transparency alone.

Finally, echoing these concerns, Victoire Olczak argues that the EU’s key legal frameworks—the GDPR, the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act)—also fall short, as they fail to address intersectional bias and therefore overlook how overlapping inequalities, such as gender, race and class, may drive discriminatory outcomes.