Women in EU continue to earn less than men

Summary from Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, 6.03.11

According to a report by the European Commission, women in the European Union (EU) continue to earn less than men.

In the past 15 years, the gender pay gap has remained stagnant at 17.5 per cent.

Women would need to work an extra two months a year on average to gain the same pay as men, says EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.

A spokesperson for the European commission for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship suggests that the pay gap is attributed to “structural problems in the labour market”.

The report comes just days ahead of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, which will be marked on March 8. Matthew Newman, a spokesman for Reding, attributes the gap to what he calls structural problems in the labour market.

“Many women are not going into certain professions in which they would make more money. It starts at a very young age, where women are getting more involved in, let’s say social studies, and they may end up as teachers, which are not very high paid jobs,” Newman says.

“They are not getting into professions like engineering, computer science, and management, where there are higher-paying jobs.”