Despite the promotion of gender equality in Serbian society, the gap between men’s and women’s salaries in Serbia has been growing year-on-year and the more educated the employee is, the bigger the gap.
According to the latest data collated by the State Statistics Office, the average gross salary of women in September last year was 94,911, while men earned about 15 percent more in the same month, i.e. 110,915 dinars.
A year earlier, the average salary of women was 83,908, and that of men was 12 percent higher, i.e. 95,178 dinars. The data also shows that in 2020 men’s wages were 11 percent higher.
On the other hand, although the percentage difference in earnings between men and women in some European countries is higher than in Serbia, these differences are generally decreasing year-on-year, unlike in our country.
Eurostat data indicate that the smallest differences in income between the two genders are recorded in Luxembourg, where there is no gap in the amount of wages. Romania comes next with 3.6 percent difference, followed by Slovenia with a 3.8 percent and Poland amounts to about 4.5 percent. In Italy and Belgium, the gap is 5 percent. In regional countries, the gap in Croatia is 11 percent and in Bulgaria 12 percent.
The reasons for this are several and include gender discrimination and the fact that women tend to be stay-at-home parents more than men. Also, mothers between the ages of 25 and 45 have fewer chances of finding employment compared to women who don’t have children.
Sarita Bradaš, from the Centre for Democracy Foundation, says: “Jobs for women are less valued than those which are considered typically male. Also, women have a harder time being promoted to higher positions that are better paid than men. It takes them much longer to climb the corporate ladder and even when they are in managerial positions, they usually tend to be managers in financial or HR sectors. In contrast, men occupy strategically important positions in production and sales.”
Bradaš also points out that, in addition to motherhood, the fact that it takes longer time for women to be promoted than men is influenced by the gender stereotype that women make worse leaders.
“It is a general belief that certain jobs are for women and that men are better in leadership positions. On the other hand, women experience more interruptions in their careers, which is most often related to motherhood. Quite often, women who return from maternity leave are transferred to other jobs,” Bradaš notes and adds that there are laws in place that alleviate the pay gap, but they are not respected, that is, the results of their application are still unknown to the public.
(Danas, 21.10.2023)