Jobs for Europe – The Employment Policy Conference

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Jobs for Europe – The Employment Policy Conference, Brussels 6. – 7. September 2012

Barriers to women’s employment

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to welcome you all to this panel discussion on barriers to women’s employment and on the work-life balance.

Although progress has been made in women’s employment, gender gaps are still significant:

• In the OECD-countries on average, the gender employment gap was 22 per cent in 1995: 53 per cent employment among women, compared to 75 per cent among men.
• In 2011, the gender employment gap was reduced to 16 per cent in the OECD-countries on average: 57 per cent employment among women, compared to 73 per cent among men.

At the same time, part time work is much more pronounced among women than men. On average, 26 per cent of the female and 9 per cent of the male workers in the OECD worked part-time 2011. In other words: the potential for increasing female participation lies in raising employment rates as well as working hours.

Encouraging higher labour market participation of women has been a policy goal for the European countries for a long time. The skills of both men and women are needed in a modern labour market. n addition, some of the tasks in highest demand in the rich, but ageing economies, are services traditionally provided by women. Health care is in an exeptional position here. And so, in view of the ageing of the population, labour supply of women is of great importance.

Participation in the labour market gives a basis for adequate resources for the woman and her family. Besides, the economic independence of women plays a key part.

The ageing population put demands on the fertility of women. In many countries, low fertility rates add considerably to the demographic imbalances. The challenge, then, becomes one of combining high labour supply and high fertility rates of women. This is why we need a policy that can reconcile the work and family life.

Many countries pursue a comprehensive strategy to increase employment among women. Important elements include family policies – like the provision of childcare, birth and child-care benefits and paid family-related leave arrangements – labour market policies – including flexible working time arrangements – and more general education and welfare policies.

The aim of these policy efforts should be to provide the possibility for both men and women to combine work with family caring and other activities outside the paid labour market. In short, we need a labour market that provides for a family life, and we need family and welfare policies that provide for labour market participation.

The policies have to balance between different – and sometimes opposing – challenges. At the individual level, we have on the one hand the worker’s need for choice in order to accommodate the growing diversity of their lifestyles and family arrangements. On the other hand, we are met with the firms’ need for flexible working arrangements in light of the rapid changes in international markets. We are met with the challenges of both raising labour market participation and fertility in light of the ageing of the European population.

It may seem as a paradox that policy instruments that promote temporarily absence from paid work, in example maternity leave, may increase employment. Looking at my own country, Norway, it seems, anyhow, that short term leave and flexible working arrangements may encourage long term labour market attachment. Some main elements in the Norwegian policy to facilitate for high female employment are:

• Good provision of state subsidised day care centres;
• paid leave arrangements where entitlements are linked to previous work; and
• flexible working time regulations that can facilitate part-time work and family-friendly working time arrangements.

Partly as a result of these arrangements, the employment rate among women in Norway is high in an international context. At the same time, the share of women working part-time is also high.

I believe we should not restrict ourselves to combat the involuntary part-time work. Far the largest share of part-time female workers in Norway are satisfied with working reduced hours. The largest potential for increasing working hours among women is thus among the voluntary part-time workers. Filling the increasing demand for workers in the health and caring sector is one of the great challenges ahead. Therefore, I believe we should ask ourselves why so many female workers want to work part-time. We need to consider a broad range of stimuli in order to change the situation, from how we organise the working time to the pay structure. How we design our societies will also matter.

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Before we proceed with the panellists, I will direct your attention to the main questions raised in the Issues Paper prepared for this section:

• What are the main remaining obstacles to equal participation on the labour market and equal sharing of family responsibilities between women and men in the EU: Is it lack of investment; attitudes; enforceability of rights, or other issues?
• How to maintain, in times of budgetary constraints, adequate provision of social services and facilities which are key not only for gender equality and social well-being, but also for enabling the fulfilment of women's labour market potential?
• What can (or cannot) the public sector do to improve women's employment, and what can (or cannot) be expected from companies, social partners and civil society?

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To help us to answer these questions, and to set the stage for the discussion, we have three distinguished panellists:

• Francesca Bettio from the University of Siena,
• Christa Randzio-Plath from the University of Hamburg, and
• Robert Anderson from Eurofound

They will cover different and important aspects on barriers to women’s employment and on the work-life balance.

The organisation of the panel will follow along these lines: The panellist will have 10 minutes each for an introduction. We will then continue with a discussion among the panellists and with the audience. I will make sure that you all get the possibility to take part in the discussion. I ask the three panellists to obey the rules of the game and stick to the timeline.

Please, the floor is yours.

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