The gender gap and how to close it

The main pain points for women vary across institutions, but the most common ones at work include having a supportive employer that would facilitate work-life balance and  would ensure equal pay.

Harassment is also at the top of the list, along with recognition, and being offered opportunities for advancement.

An important one is for the employer/supervisor not to assume a woman would not be intersected in a position or will most likely say no. Ask her!

The gender pay gap in Luxembourg is one of the lowest in Europe. The latest numbers indicate it stands at 1.4%. Compare this to 20% in Germany, 15% in France or 6% in Belgium. Nevertheless, this masks a very unequal situation across industries. In Luxembourg, there are numerous actions promoting more equality for women and men in the labor market, but a lot of difficulties remain when it comes to promoting women to positions of responsibility.

In the latest study, I worked on in 2019, where I examined the gender gap across sectors, we found very large gaps in the professional, scientific and technical activities (25%), financial & insurance activities (22%) and real estate sectors (17%). These are all sectors where a majority of men are employed. Yes, even in other service sectors, where women are more likely to be employed the gap was at 30%.

I think society could do many things, but first we need to educate society about this. It’s not only the role of the school, university, but also the role of the family, firm, or government as well. Discussing these issues raises our awareness. At the moment, it seems that awareness is not present everywhere and even there is some awareness, we still don’t realize what are the consequences of gaps that exist within the society. One way to help with this is to have “gender observers.” These individuals present at school, at firms, or at banks – during the hiring process or when major decisions are made regarding society or employees would ask the right questions. How will this decision affect men, how will it affect women? Is there something we can do better to avoid the negative consequences of these decisions for women or men, for that matter.

I realise now that people who belittle either feel threatened themselves or lack respect for others. This realisation helped me not take such comments personally and treat them as evidence of what kind of person the commentator is rather than an indication of who I am. If I found myself with a woman or man for that matter that felt belittled I would tell them. First of all, other people’s comments do not define who we are. Very often commentators are projecting their own insecurities so follow the below tips.