Women do not have equal opportunities for professional development

Over 60% of Bulgarian citizens believe that women in Europe face substantial difficulties to reach leading positions in large companies, shows data from the special edition of the Eurobarometer survey, conducted by TNS and Gallup International, commissioned by the European Commission.

Despite the efforts for equal rights, according to recent data by Eurostat for 2008, women’s earnings in the European Union are 17.5% smaller on average than those of men in the same positions and with the same qualifications. Bulgaria is actually one of the EU countries, where the pay gap is below the EU average - women receive salaries by 13. 6% lower than those of men in our country. That is, to a certain extent on average women in Bulgaria enjoy "more equal rights" with men than those in the EU in general in terms of salaries. This is also illustrated by the general attitudes in different countries, which were also examined in the survey.

Some 76% of European citizens generally believe that women do not have equal opportunities with men in terms of appointment at managerial positions in large companies. This percentage is 13% higher than the recorded figure in Bulgaria - 63%. Every fourth Bulgarian believes that if a woman has enough experience and knowledge, she would not face problems occupying a high managerial position in a large company.

According to the Bulgarians, however, women as a rule face difficulties to get appointed at higher positions, when it comes down to the superior administrative levels - two-thirds (67%) of the respondents believe that men are privileged with respect to this type of career.

In general, the data shows greatest difference in the opinions of the Bulgarians and the Europeans, regarding the options for professional realisation in small and medium businesses. Almost 60% of Europeans are skeptical on this issue and believe that women could hardly climb up the ladder even in this type of businesses. A substantially lower percentage of Bulgarians, however, just 43% share this opinion. In fact, almost half of the Bulgarian citizens believe that the small and medium businesses are a fully open area for the professional realization of women.

Even if wages of men and women become fully equal, the fact is that most part of the housework and childcare in the average family is being carried out by women. The combination of professional duties, work at home and care for children is certainly not an easy task. When answering the question what is the most effective measure contributing for the balancing of the tasks at work and in the private area, Europeans in general, and Bulgarians in particular indicate improvement of the care system for children - kindergartens, nurseries, schools and care programs - in order to facilitate the parents in dealing with their multiple responsibilities.

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