Large difference in employment rates between men and women!
If you compare the employment rates in EU regions, you will notice that the female employment rates still lag behind the male rates in most of the regions.
The EU has set a policy target in this area of halving the gender employment gap from 11.7% in 2019 to 5.8% by 2030.
The green regions shown here are those that have already attained the target.
Source: Eurostat
But why is women’s employment the variable here? Why are women supposed to take the role of unpaid care workers.
They aren't "supposed" to do it, but currently are doing it and I do not see it changing. I am 57 years old and it has barely changed over the last 50 years. So I want to make sure that the situation as it is is seen when looking at this map. I am all for equal care work for all genders, I always was, but most of the time it is only about "how do we get more women in full time jobs" and not equally about "how do we get men to do equal amounts of care work".
Fair. While the focus hasn’t been on getting men to do more care work, I think that area has improved quite a bit… seemingly due to the push for higher female employment.
On the other hand, there’s the issue of general life affordability. Most families in the US require both parents to work to get by. This has been touted as a great social progress, but it’s also a great economic step back. I don’t think everyone’s idea of eutopia is 100% employment….