Gender Wage Gap in Austria 2010

May 30, 2011
Christian Dörr

Gender Wage Gap in Austria 2010 - Christian Dörr

This article about a 2010 report on the economic situation of Austrian women tries to filter out the central data and facts.

In general the economic situation of women is, in spite of equality on paper, worse than that of men. The reason is the strong bond which still exists in the traditional role model of men and women in Austria. In many homes, the man earns the main share of the household's income and the wife works part-time or does the housework. This fact degrades equality to a farce. In Austria there is not even a gendered specification for a man staying at home and taking care of the household whereas the female specification is housewife.

Attempts at explanation for the lower income of women

On the one hand, half the income inequality can be explained by differences in education between men and women, the concentration of women in lower paid social and service occupations, differences in work experience and the marital status of women because women in relationships usually reduce their working hours for the benefit of the joint household.

On the other hand, the other half of this income inequality can be accounted for by more frequent interruption of occupation or shorter duration of jobs because of child-bearing and family planning, fewer working hours, part-time occupations, differing behavior concerning salary negotiations and last but not least, simple discrimination. One of the main reasons for the high income injustice in Austria is the especially difficult balance of family and occupation.

Facts and figures from Austria concerning gender inequality

About half of Austrian women between 15 and 64 years of age are part-time employees compared to the EU-27 where the share is about a third in that specific age group.
The gross annual income of female employees is generally more than one-third lower compared to that of men.
The lower income of women, particularly single women, single parent women and immigrant women leads to significantly higher poverty rates among women.
Male pensioners received twice the pension compared to women on average because of the disadvantages accumulated over the years.
Education in Austria is qualitatively different between the sexes. The integration of women in engineering and natural science is only fragmentary. Although these are the growing and well paid branches, women are still in the minority for job opportunities in Austria in these areas.
Austrian parental leave models keep women away from the labor market for long periods of time, which make it costly for employers to hire women.
In Austria, there is neither much acceptance nor childcare structures for working mothers. In particular there are not enough childcare institutions.
Austria as a society seems to represent the view that women should stay at home with their children giving up their job or only working part-time.

Role model should be the Scandinavian countries

The Scandinavian countries have decreased financial inequality and disadvantages in the labor market by family-friendly tax and wage strategies. Their family policy, which propagates partial outsourcing of child care and parenting out of the family, resulted in an increased employment rate of women. This pro-family policy created many jobs which encourage further education and positively influence economy and production over time. Thanks to the higher training rate the pool of skilled workers increases in the long run, which counteracts the shortages of skilled workers in the future.

Dream of equality

The social change towards gender equality flows slowly but steadily a like a running stream of water into society. There is proven evidence that gender equality can only be reached through a change of our society towards equality, reaching and penetrating rather than by anti-discrimination campaigns. As long as the bread winner model, where the man earns the household income and the woman is forced into the role of a housewife, is dominant in the minds of Mr and Mrs Austrian, the dream of equality cannot come true. Sad but true.