Press room

The crisis that began in 2008 has revealed in the European Union high level of segmentation between men and women on the labor market. Despite considerable progress in terms of access to education and employment in recent decades, inequalities remain strong, particularly visible in the differentiated distribution according to sectors and occupations.

Women employment, more concentrated in services, remained relatively protected, especially in comparison with men employment overrepresented in the sectors most affected by the crisis. Since 2011, however, these differences have seemed to be fading, weakening also women employment.

Although women participation in the labor market increases, trades and sectors to which they access do not change a lot. If paradoxically, this bias could play a "protective" for the women employment at the time of the crisis, the reduction of the segmentation remains a major objective as to ensure greater equality in the workplace as to ensure the proper functioning of market labor.

While the European Union has set itself the goal of an employment rate of women to 75% in 2020, the Centre for Strategic Analysis focuses on issues of access to employment and balance between male and female employment in the context of sectoral adaptations: two requirements to improve the status of women's work and reduce inequalities.

Keywords: employment adjustment, recession, gender inequalities, economic disparities, EU-27.