New report examines situation of women and men in the EU
Published: 23 October 2002
The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Policy Affairs issued a new publication on 8 October 2002, entitled The life of women and men in Europe [1]. The publication is grouped into three main sections: the first deals with youth, covering issues such as demographic trends and participation in education; the second looks at adulthood, focusing on employment, pay and participation of women and men in decision-making; and the third deals with retirement, looking at issues such as employment, income and social relations at this stage of life. Some of the main findings of employment relevance are set out below.[1] http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-product/EN?catalogue=Eurostat&product=3-08102002-EN-AP-EN&type=pdf
A new report, issued jointly by Eurostat and the European Commission in October 2002, provides a number of statistics relating to the employment of men and women in the EU. One of the most notable is the fact that the gender pay gap remains significant – on average, women earn 87% of male hourly earnings in the public sector, a figure which falls to 82% in the private sector.
The Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) and the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Policy Affairs issued a new publication on 8 October 2002, entitled The life of women and men in Europe. The publication is grouped into three main sections: the first deals with youth, covering issues such as demographic trends and participation in education; the second looks at adulthood, focusing on employment, pay and participation of women and men in decision-making; and the third deals with retirement, looking at issues such as employment, income and social relations at this stage of life. Some of the main findings of employment relevance are set out below.
Participation in education
There are significant differences between men and women in the area of participation in tertiary education. In 1999/2000, in all Member States, more women in the 18-21 age group were enrolled in tertiary education than men. Countries with significant differences between men and women in this age group include Spain (28% of men compared with 40% of women enrolled in tertiary education) and Belgium (36% of men compared with 47% of women).
In the 22-24 age group, a total of eight Member States had larger numbers of women than men enrolled in tertiary education. However, in the 25-28 age group, five Member States had larger numbers of men than women enrolled in tertiary education.
Enrolment rates in tertiary education for both men and women also varied considerably between Member States. For 18-21-year-olds, this ranged from 63% (women) and 57% (men) in Greece to 10% (women) and 7% (men) in Denmark. In the highest age bracket surveyed, however (25-28), only 3% of both men and women in Greece were enrolled in higher education, compared with 22% (women) and 21% (men) in Finland.
Managerial positions
According to the report, men are almost twice as likely as women to be employed in managerial positions in the EU. Overall, 10.1% of men in the EU were employed in what were considered to be managerial positions in 2000, compared with 5.7% of women. The differences between the percentage of female and male managers were most marked in the Netherlands (16.1% of men compared with 7.3% of women), Denmark (10.3% of women compared with 3.7% of women) and Finland (13% of men compared with 5% of women).
Interestingly, the number of both men and women classed as managers varies considerably between Member States, from 18.4% of men (11% of women) in the UK and 16.1% of men (7.3% of women) in the Netherlands to just 3.7% of men (1.3% of women) in Italy. For further details, see table 1 below.
| . | Total managers | Of which managers of small enterprises | ||
| . | Men | Women | Men | Women |
| EU15 | 10.1% | 5.7% | 3.5% | 2.4% |
| Austria | 9.7% | 5.4% | 4.1% | 2.5% |
| Belgium | 11.8% | 7.6% | 4.0% | 4.2% |
| Denmark | 10.3% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 1.7% |
| Finland | 13.0% | 5.0% | 4.4% | 1.6% |
| France | 10.6% | 6.0% | 3.8% | 2.7% |
| Germany | 6.4% | 3.0% | 2.1% | 1.6% |
| Greece | 12.1% | 6.8% | 10.3% | 6.1% |
| Ireland | 12.6% | 9.6% | 9.1% | 5.6% |
| Italy | 3.7% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Luxembourg | 7.5% | 4.3% | 5.5% | 3.3% |
| Netherlands | 16,1% | 7.3% | 6.9% | 4.0% |
| Portugal | 8.2% | 4.6% | 6.5% | 4.0% |
| Spain | 9.1% | 6.8% | 6.2% | 6.0% |
| Sweden | 6.2% | 2.8% | 2.2% | 1.3% |
| UK | 18.4% | 11.0% | 3.2% | 1.9% |
Source: Eurostat.
Equal pay
The publication also contains a section examining earnings for men and women in 1998. Overall, it found that men earned more than women in virtually all Member States. Average gross hourly earnings for women across the EU in 1998 were 87% of male gross hourly earnings in the public sector and 82% in the private sector. The differential was particularly marked in the German private sector (73% of male earnings), the Austrian private sector (76%) and the German public sector (77%). In the Portuguese public sector, however, women earned 108% of male gross hourly earnings, while in the Italian public sector the figure was 101%. For more details, see table 2 below.
| . | Public sector | Private sector |
| EU15 | 87% | 82% |
| Austria | 92% | 76% |
| Belgium | 92% | 88% |
| Denmark | 97% | 92% |
| Finland | 83% | 85% |
| France | 89% | 84% |
| Germany | 77% | 73% |
| Greece | 91% | 79% |
| Ireland | 90% | 82% |
| Italy | 101% | 89% |
| Luxembourg | Data not available | Data not available |
| Netherlands | 79% | 81% |
| Portugal | 108% | 79% |
| Spain | 93% | 83% |
| Sweden | Data not available | Data not available |
| UK | 83% | 85% |
Source: Eurostat.
Commentary
The Employment and Social Policy Commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, and Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Pedro Solbes Mira, state in the preface to the new publication that it: 'brings together a complete presentation of gender statistics by presenting men and women in a comparative way, thus showing the relative position of each in terms of income, influence and their respective roles in society'.
One of the starkest results to emerge from this report is the fact that, although women are more highly educated than men – more women are enrolled in tertiary education than men in most Member States – women still lose out in the labour market, particularly when it comes to pay and their occupation of managerial positions. Thus, although much has been done over the past 25 years to reduce sex discrimination and develop equal opportunities for both men and women, there clearly remains more to be done. (Andrea Broughton, IRS)
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), New report examines situation of women and men in the EU, article.
This website is an official website of the European Union.
All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodies