Gender and Labour Markets in the EU (original) (raw)

The organisation of European labour markets remain highly gendered. This is despite the fact that more women are involved in waged work and that women hold a growing proportion of all jobs in the economy. These gender differences in the labour market are linked to women’s greater responsibility for putting time into unwaged care work in the home and community. This broad gender picture coexists with important differences, both in the precise pattern of gender relations between countries, and in the divergent labour market position and employment experiences of groups of women within countries around characteristics such as their qualification levels. This paper provides an overview of the gendered character of labour markets, focusing on developments in women’s position relative to that of men. Differences between countries are highlighted, as are differences between women Section 1 discusses how gender differences in the labour market are affected by welfare state regimes and the organisation of the labour market. The organisation of care work and the gender division of labour is the focus of section 2. Section 3 looks at employment rates and the number of hours worked. Section 4 assesses the quality of women’s employment by looking at the kind of jobs they do and the rewards they get. Conclusions are discussed in section 5.