Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe workshop report

On June 5, 2025, Futures Impacts, hosting the Germany Node of the Millennium Project, and the Foresight Europe Network, coordinated a 1.5-hour online foresight workshop titled “Around the World in 15 Global Challenges: Exploring the Future of Gender Equality in Europe.” This participatory session brought together around 25 engaged participants from across Europe and beyond to examine the future of gender equality in Europe through a feminist and intersectional lens.

Building on the Global Challenge #11: The Status of Women from the Millennium Project’s State of the Future report, the workshop invited participants to co-create a Feminist Futures Constellation Map and explore emerging gender equality issues in Europe by 2050, culminating in breakout sessions focused on concrete actions and responsible actors.

Overarching findings:

• Out of the four groups, three chose to focus on the future of “AI, digital rights & technology,” identifying it as one of the most disruptive areas for feminist futures, while one group explored issues at the intersection of “Education, care, and migration”.
• Participants focusing on AI highlighted the need for gender-sensitive and ethical AI development, expressing concerns about the reproduction of historical gender biases within current systems, particularly via anti-gender movement actors. They also expressed concern about the amplification of anti-feminist content within global digital spaces. Proposed measures included employing diverse and inclusive data sets, ensuring women and gender-diverse individuals occupy decision-making roles in technology, and promoting transparency and accountability throughout AI development processes.
• The concept of hijacking AI emerged as a form of feminist digital resistance, encompassing guerrilla tactics such as unions supporting click-workers and deliberate efforts to flood AI systems with more diverse, feminist-informed datasets (e.g., feminist literature, records of women´s history) in order to challenge prevailing statistics and dominant narratives.
• Digital violence and online safety were identified as urgent issues, particularly concerning harassment, deepfakes, and child sexual exploitation. Participants called for strong legal frameworks, ethical AI-powered content moderation, and comprehensive educational initiatives to increase awareness of digital safety across all age groups.
• The evolving nature of human relationships mediated by AI was another key topic discussed, with concerns that AI may increasingly mediate or even replace interpersonal connections, especially in intimate or emotional contexts. Considering the gender dimension, there is a risk that anti-feminist views in partner relationships may be reinforced. Participants also emphasised the risks associated with AI in mental health settings, particularly for young people seeking psychological support from AI. Discussions pointed to the need to advocate for human oversight, protective safeguards, EU-level ethical guidelines, and educational programmes that foster critical thinking across different age groups.
• Participants discussed how AI changes the way values related to gender and equality are taught, especially to children. They underscored the urgent need for new tools and narratives that support more inclusive, relational ways of learning and being together. A prominent proposal was the establishment of a European Gender Cool Storytelling Week, to be held in schools and other settings, aimed at fostering mutual understanding and connection through storytelling.
• Participants stressed the importance of strengthening mental health, coping strategies, and resilience, particularly among immigrants, vulnerable groups, and activists, anticipating increased challenges in the face of potential political shifts towards more conservative, populist, or far-right governments in Europe.
• Finally, participants highlighted the urgent need to reframe the public discourse around gender equality, noting that it is frequently polarised, emotionalised, and politicised. This environment makes it challenging to engage with factual information or recognise the broader societal benefits of advancing gender justice.

Read the full report on Futures Impacts.

An insight article on the workshop by Mara Di Berardo , Clara Jöster-Morisse, Cornelia Daheim, Thays Prado, and Lena Tünker is also available on Futures Digest.