European Union institutions and nations have not met benchmarks for women's participation in the research workforce, a report says. In an initiative to examine gender issues in science, the European Commission decided in 1999 that women should make up 40% of its panels, and in 2005 that 25% of senior researchers should be female. The initiative's final report, Stocktaking 10 years of 'Women in Science', released on 13 October, identifies reasons for women's low numbers, including inconsistent political support. Progress on gender issues continues to be erased by changes to political leadership, it says.