The Gender Gap
The status of women: CURRENT REALITY.
See the Gender Gap Ranking of 58 developed and developing countries.
How to combine work and family?
 You may be surprised to find Austria only in the 28th place in the ranking of the World Economic Forum annual report on the status of women. In many respects Austrian women lag behind their counterparts elsewhere in Europe. They tend to be paid less, have precarious part-time jobs, lose their jobs faster and stay out of work longer — and in all economic measures, they fare far worse than Austrian men (earning 33% less on average). In a survey of women's presence in the workforce Austria placed 42nd out of 58 developed and developing countries. The same survey ranked Austrian women 22nd in job opportunities and 38th in educational attainment.
As far as the wage equality of women in the workplace is concerned Austria ranks 102nd out of 102 countries surveyed in the World Economic Forum Competitiveness Report 2004/2005! See the rankings of Wage Equality of Women in the Workplace.
The average EU woman has a long way to go before achieving equal pay with the average man.This emerges from an EU-wide survey by Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg: AVERAGE EU WOMAN EARNS A QUARTER LESS THAN A MAN
Gender-related pay differentials in EU: 1998 / 2001 / 2002
AUSTRIAN INCOME REPORT 2004
Compared to many of its European neighbours, Austria is woefully undersupplied with day-care facilities - just 13% of children under 3 have access to day care in Austria, compared with 64% in Denmark, 34% in the U.K. and 29% in France.
Not surprisingly, many Austrian mothers see part-time jobs as the answer to the problem of finding a career. No less than 85% of part-time jobs are held by women, and more than one-third of all women in employment work part-time. In Sweden, by contrast, 71% of women are in full-time jobs — only 3% fewer than their male counterparts. Why the difference? One factor stands out: 85% of Swedish toddlers have places in child-care facilities. This is the fruit of long-established Swedish policies aimed at bringing mothers back into the workforce; provision of child care is key but so too is legislation to ensure family-friendly attitudes in the workplace. Swedish employers, for example, are required by law to permit parents of children up to 8 years old to work shorter hours.
Personal reports on childcare facilities in Britain, France and Sweden.
Recent WIFO study on the AUSTRIAN CHILDCARE BENEFIT SCHEME.
IMPACT OF LEAVE AND GENDER EQUALITY
See the table of BIRTH RATES IN EUROPE.
The Europe's plummeting fertility rate is a time bomb, threatening economic growth and social welfare. But what can governments do about it? How states are trying to get people to have more kids. Read the article WE NEED MORE BABIES published in "Time" on 21 November 2004.
See the tables of EMPLOYMENT RATES IN EU 2001 and PROJECTED EMPLOYMENT RATES IN EU FROM 2003 TO 2050.
Read the article WHY MERKEL IS NOT ENOUGH discussing the status of women in Germany, where the situation is in many respects similar to the one in Austria, published in the 30 January issue of "Time".
Read the article MYTH AND REALITY comparing the status of women in the USA and Europe published in the 27 February issue of "Newsweek".
Read the BBC-text on how UK WOMEN BATTLE BARRIERS AT WORK.
Links to some very interesting and controversial articles in the German magazin "Die Zeit" on the topic:
Kinderschwund - na und? -  http://www.zeit.de/2006/13/DEUTSCHE?page=all
Der Preis des Glücks - http://www.zeit.de/2006/12/Titel_2fMtter_12?page=all
What do you make of the above-noted facts?
How do you see the status of women in your community? Are women discriminated against?
Write down your comments:
Lisbeth Hütter Comment 2
Romana Fliesser Comment 3
Daniel Hofer Comment 3
Raimund Propst Comment 3
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