IVPR: Income Disparity Between Genders Unaddressed in Slovakia

Bratislava, November 5 (TASR) - Even though data indicate some improvement, income disparity between men and women is not really being addressed in Slovakia, maintain analysts of the Labour and Family Research Institute of the Labour Ministry. "We base this on the latest Eurostat data, where the 2020 gender wage gap in unadjusted form in Slovakia equalled 15.8 percent in favour of men," stated analyst of the Prevention and Elimination of Gender Discrimination project Andrej Kuruc. Even though an improvement by 2.6 percent y-o-y was detected, the analyst pointed out that the data was collected in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, which might have impacted the income of both men and women. "The reduction of the gap might have stemmed mostly from the discontinuation of various bonuses, usually provided in fields dominated by men," said Kuruc. Kuruc underlined that accomplishing a fair remuneration for women in Slovak society is not possible without accounting for factors such as the gender segregation on the labour market, the lack of flexibility in work time and the traditional gender division of roles in the care for family members. mf/mcs/zel