On 8 October 2002, Eurostat and the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Policy Affairs issued a publication entitled The life of women and men in Europe [1]. The study presents numerous gender-differentiated statistics on the current situation of women and men in the EU, including earnings and presence in managerial positions (EU0210207F [2]).[1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-product/EN?catalogue=Eurostat&product=3-08102002-EN-AP-EN&type=pdf[2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-report-examines-situation-of-women-and-men-in-the-eu
An EU study published in October 2002 revealed that Europe's largest gaps in earnings between men and women are to be found in Germany. The average gross hourly earnings of German women are 77% of men's in the public sector and 73% in the private sector.
On 8 October 2002, Eurostat and the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Policy Affairs issued a publication entitled The life of women and men in Europe. The study presents numerous gender-differentiated statistics on the current situation of women and men in the EU, including earnings and presence in managerial positions (EU0210207F).
The report found that Germany was the Member State with the biggest gender pay gap in both the public and private sectors. In 1998, the average gross hourly earnings of women were 77% of men's earnings in the German public sector and 73% in the private sector. This compares with average EU figures of 87% in the public sector and 82% in the private sector.
Furthermore, German women were only half as likely as men to hold a managerial position. In 2000, 6.4% of employed men but only 3% of employed women in Germany were classified as company managers. The EU average figures were 10.1% and 5.7% respectively. The differences between women and men were less marked in small enterprises: in Germany 2.1% of employed men (EU average 3.5%) and 1.6% of women (EU average 2.4%) were classified as company managers in small enterprises.
According to a report by the Germany Federal Ministry of Family, Senior, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familien, Frauen, Senioren und Jungend, BMFSFJ), issued in July 2002, the gender pay gap is wider in western Germany than in eastern Germany. In 1997, in western Germany, women were earning barely 75% of men's earnings, whereas in eastern Germany the figure was 94%. Although the gender pay gap is still considerable in Germany, there has been some movement in the last 20 years and the earnings of full-time employed men and women have grown closer. The pay gap was reduced by 2.8 percentage points in western Germany between 1977 and 1998. During the 1990s, the pay gap in eastern Germany fell by 1.9 percentage points. However, developments have varied between different levels of qualifications, economic sectors and collective agreement coverage.
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Eurofound (2002), German gender pay gap is EU's largest, article.
