Access to the labor market, the structure of jobs and related working conditions. These are the main areas in which inequality between the sexes in Europe has remained, despite great progress in recent years. That is according to a recently published EU report entitled Women, Men and Working Conditions in Europe. The report deals with differences between individual countries, analyzes different occupational groups of men and women, and compares the public and private sector. Attention is also paid to the issue of gender segregation in employment caused by the economic crisis.
The report is based on the findings of the fifth European Working Conditions Survey conducted in 2010. The survey maps the representation of women and men in employment in 34 European countries, including the Czech Republic. Nearly 44,000 employees participated in the survey.
Key findings of the study
- There is a balanced proportion of men and women in only five of the twenty occupational groups employing the most people in Europe. These are 1) food, wood and garment workers, 2) numerical clerks, 3) legal, social and cultural professionals, 4) business professionals, and 5) personal service workers.
- Occupations in the public sector are generally carried out by women. In terms of male-dominated occupations, when they are carried out in the public sector, are mostly performed by women.
- After calculating the time spent commuting to and from work and the time spent on unpaid work, it turned out that women worked an average of 64 hours per week and men 53 hours a week. Women spent 26 hours taking care of other people and devoted 34 hours to paid work. Men spent 9 hours on caring activities and devoted 41 hours to paid work.
- Men are much more likely to work more than the 48 hours per week set by the EU directive on working hours. There is an exception with teachers and administrative staff. Women work more than 48 hours a week in sales, hospitality, management, agriculture and the service industry.
- Most people working full-time would like to work less. Men would prefer to work 38 hours a week while women prefer a 33 hour week.
- Men’s monthly earnings are higher in all the occupations in this study. The most significant differences are in white-collar, male-dominated occupations.
- Well-being at work is, on average, higher for men across all industries and in most of the occupational groups. Women feel the same level of well-being as men only in the service sector and shop and sales work. The well-being of women who remain in the labor market is greater than those who have left.
The entire study is available for download from this website. The executive summary of the results in Czech is available on this website.
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