European Foundation for Improvement of Living & Working Conditions – Gender

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions

Gender – Overview

The Foundation maintains a long-standing commitment to the issue of equal
opportunities for women and men in their social and working life. In recent
years, the Foundation has devoted even greater attention to gender-based
inequalities, including pay,
through studies on equal opportunities, through its European Working
Conditions surveys, and by mainstreaming a gender perspective across its
other activities.

Despite advances in women’s employment in recent years, Europe’s labour
markets and workplaces remain largely unequal, and the gender pay gap is still
important. Previous research on equal
opportunities and collective bargaining is still relevant today. It is
widely believed that employment levels in Europe will not increase unless we
solve the issues of care for
children and the elderly, and improve working time options that promote
better work-life
balance for both women and men.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March
2007, the Foundation presents an overview of some recent
research findings on gender and equal opportunities.