Highly qualified, fewer responsibilities and paid less

Women on the labour market in 2019

In Belgium, 52.2 % of female employees have a higher education diploma, compared to only 38.7 % of their male counterparts. Despite this, only 15 % of female employees report having staff supervisory or managerial responsibilities compared to 25 % of men.

16.6 % of women aged 25 to 49, which is the most active age in terms of employment, have staff supervisory responsibilities, compared to 24.8 % of men. However, it is in this age group that the gender gap in the education level of employees is the greatest: 58.7 % of female employees have a higher education diploma compared to 41.9 % of men.

Young people (15-24) are more or less on an equal footing in terms of responsibilities (around 5.5 %). Among people aged 50 or over, levels of education are closer (42.3 % of highly educated women, 37.2 % of men) and the gaps are the most striking in terms of responsibility, with almost twice as many men responsible for staff supervision as women (30.3 % and 15.6 % respectively).

Pay gap

These differences can also be seen at the level of wages. In 2019, women earned on average 5.8 % less per hour than men. Here too, the situation deteriorates with age. The pay gap increases from 3.8 % in the 25-34 age group to 9.2 % for the 55-64 age group.

However, the situation is tending to improve. The pay gap was still 10.2 % in 2010. With 5.8 %, Belgium is the 4th least unequal European country. The average gender pay gap at European level is 14.1 %.

These are the evolutions in the top 10 countries with the lowest pay gap