Gender differences in paid work over time: Developments and challenges in comparative research

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Economics
• Gender Studies

Background:

• Comparative research on gender differences in paid work often relies on labor force participation rates or average working hours.
• These traditional metrics can obscure nuanced trends in women's and men's engagement in paid employment over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze gender differences in paid work across Europe and the US from 1992-2022.
• To highlight limitations of existing metrics and propose an alternative measure, 'work volume', for more accurate cross-national comparisons.
• To examine changes in gender gaps in paid work and identify regional variations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of harmonized survey data from Europe and the United States (N=43,283,172) spanning 1992 to 2022.
• Comparison of trends in labor force participation rates and average working hours between genders.
• Introduction and application of the 'work volume' metric, which accounts for non-employed individuals.

Main Results:

• Progress in closing gender gaps was greater for labor force participation than for working hours.
• Women's labor force participation increased, while their average working hours decreased; men's participation stagnated or decreased, with hours remaining higher than women's.
• The 'work volume' measure revealed a decrease in gender gaps over time, yet men's overall involvement in paid work remained higher than women's in 2022, with the smallest gaps in Scandinavian and former Communist countries.

Conclusions:

• Traditional metrics for paid work can be misleading when assessing gender equality.
• 'Work volume' offers a more comprehensive approach to comparing men's and women's paid work engagement.
• Despite progress, significant gender disparities in paid work persist globally, with regional variations.