Higher education reduces gender employment gap

In 2024, the gender employment gap in the EU among adults living in households with children was less pronounced for women highly educated compared with those with lower levels of education. 

For women with low education, as the number of children in the household grew, their employment rates decreased. The gender employment gap increased from 26.1 percentage points (pp) for 1 child to 35.8 pp for 2 children and 42.1 pp for 3 or more. 

At medium education levels, employment was higher overall. Still, the gender gap widened progressively with the number of children, reaching its largest among adults with 3 or more children (33.0 pp gap), as employment rates stood at 58.9% for women vs 91.9% for men. 

Even among those with higher education, women with children did not reach the same employment levels as men. In households with 2 children, women’s rate was 88.0% vs 96.7% for men (8.7 pp gap), and in households with 3 or more children, the gap was relatively wider, with 81.8% vs 95.4% (13.6 pp gap). This shows that a high level of education is associated with higher employment rates and a reduced gender gap.

Source dataset: lfst_hheredch

As the data show, the presence of children in the household had a distinct impact on employment rates for women and men. For women, the employment rate decreased as the number of children increased. In contrast, for men, the presence of children was associated with a higher employment rate compared to those without children.

This article concludes our series marking the International Women’s Day. Please check our other articles as well:

• Women in management 
• Women in the labour market
• Women in parliaments and governments