According to a recent economic research report by Glassdoor, the UK is falling behind other European countries on workplace gender equality. Out of 18 responding countries, the UK was ranked eleventh– behind the Scandinavian countries, France and Spain.
The UK ranked below average on eight out of the 12 key indicators reviewed – ranging from female to male ratio in the workforce, the difference of employment rates, the level of education, by level of job and the “cost of motherhood”.
Over the past decades more and more women have entered the European workforce, yet gender inequality persists, particularly at senior levels. Across Europe under 40 per cent of managers are women. The UK together with Sweden, Norway and Portugal performed best in this area at close to this percentage.
Women are most represented in professional and more technically demanding jobs, underlining the benefit of tertiary education for women. Norwayhas the highest proportion of women on boards, as a result of a legislation-based quota system introduced in 2006.
The general finding of the report is that “Overall, the European countries in which overall gender inequality is least severe are Sweden, Norway and Finland, although all of these countries still have room for improvement in gender equality at work. By contrast, Greece, Italy and Ireland lie on the other end of the spectrum, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.”