An equal deal? Not quite…

Figures from the European Commission's annual equality review in February will have made uncomfortable reading for those who think that women are getting an equal deal in the workplace.

Though the number of women in work increased overall by 0.7% between 2003 and 2005, the level is still only 55.7%, shy of the Commission's target to see 57% of women in the workplace by 2005, and well below its 2010 target of above 60%.

Gender stereotypes are still largely entrenched, which means that women are more often employed in lower-paid occupations including nursing, social work or education. In 2005 women accounted for only 32% of managers and earned on average 15% less than men for every hour that they worked.

Across the EU, the record is mixed. Eight member states - Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, the UK, Austria, Portugal and Cyprus fall into the exemplary category, with more than 60% of women in work, while Estonia and Germany are very close to achieving the target.

At the other end of the spectrum, Spain, Poland, Greece, Italy and Malta are lagging considerably behind their EU target.

The imbalance in women in higher-paid and more top-level jobs persists despite improvements in women's participation in education. Last year, 85% of women in all 25 member states between the ages of 20-24 completed at least their upper secondary education compared with only 75% of men. And women represented a higher proportion of higher education students (55%), although they still tend to be more attracted to the humanities and arts; only Italy and Portugal have comparable numbers of women and men studying science, mathematics and computing.

More often, what influences women's decision to work or not is whether they have children. The Commission has found that the average employment rate of women aged 20-49 is 60% when they have children under the age of 12, but 75% for childless women in the same age group.

Part-time work accounts for 32% of women's jobs, but only 7% for men. In 2005, of the reasons given for working part-time, nearly one-third of women cited family responsibilities while only 4% of men did so.

National policies play a big part in this decision. Women are more likely to work if their government encourages a positive work-life balance, with family support such as childcare subsidies and paid parental leave.

Scandinavians enjoy some of the most generous parenthood policies in the EU. When a Swedish couple has a child, each parent can take up to 18 months' paid leave between them, while public day-care is heavily subsidised and women with young children are allowed to reduce their working hours. More than 70% of women work.

In the UK, the law has recently changed. New mothers are now entitled to six months' paid leave and may take an extra six months unpaid leave. From the age of four children get free part-time nursery care and parents with children under six can ask for more flexible working hours and their employer has to seriously consider it. The female participation rate stands at more than 65%.

None of this is news to EU policymakers, who in March adopted a roadmap on gender equality, urging national governments to promote more flexible working arrangements for both men and women and to try to meet the so-called Barcelona targets, which aim to provide childcare for at least a third of children under three years of age and for at least 90% of those over three.

It would be naive to assume that parenthood policies are the only obstacle to gender fair play in the labour markets, and the roadmap also tries to tackle other discriminatory social protection policies, such as those preventing couples from accumulating individual pension entitlements and individualising tax and benefit rights.

It also calls on governments to tackle gender discrimination that still sees women subject to lower pay rates even when doing the same job, and having restricted access to finance for starting up their own businesses; women account for only 30% of entrepreneurs in the EU.

"It's not acceptable that half of the EU's population still gets a worse deal than the other half," said EU Employment Commissioner Vladim�r S

pidla earlier this year. "This is not just an equality issue, but is fundamental if we are to reach the targets set out in the Lisbon Agenda, which is designed to boost Europe's economy."

Article takes a look at work-related gender imbalance across the European Union.
Article is part of European Voice Special Report, 'The EU and women'.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG Employment and Social Affairs: Report on equality between women and men, 2006 http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=1983&langId=en

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