AI, digitalisation and the green transition are transforming work and intensifying Europe’s demand for new skills. Yet women remain underrepresented in many of the sectors shaping Europe’s future. Gender stereotypes continue to steer girls away from digital and STEM pathways, while women face barriers to entering, remaining and advancing in these fields. Career breaks can make returning harder just as skills and technologies move fastest.
Bringing together public policy, lifelong learning, business and AI expertise, this conversation will look across the journey from classroom to workplace – and back again. It will explore what holds girls and women back, what Europe’s green and digital economy misses as a result, and which solutions can make a difference: earlier and more inclusive interventions, lifelong learning and reskilling, supportive workplace cultures, and return programmes that help women re-enter and progress after career breaks.