Women at work almost equally

Many countries improved in the "Women in Work" index ranked 7th by PwC. The salary gap between men and women in many countries to take off. However, it was not yet reached our goal, notes the consulting firm.

The discussion about the equal treatment of women in professional life is again flared up in connection with the planned by Family Minister Manuela Schwesig law to disclose the salaries. In fact, the salary differences between men and women in many countries in 2014 declined significantly. In the current "Women in Work" index of auditing and consulting firm PwC, many countries, therefore, improved to 7th place (previous year: 8th place).

In many countries is now higher than the OECD average

With 47.7 index points (18th place) was many countries in 2000, still below the OECD average (50 points). Since then, the participation of women has improved significantly in many countries in the labor market. The Federal Republic is an index value of 66.6 points well above the OECD average (59.1 points). The leader remains Norway (82.9 points), followed by Denmark (77.9 points) and Sweden (75 points).


"In many countries, women are taking now largely equal footing in working life. While there are many countries as the only OECD country so far managed to improve in the Women in Work Index since 2000 continuously, "says Petra Justenhoven, Member of the Board of PwC many countries, firmly," the goal we have not yet, however. Especially in management positions are women in this country are still significantly underrepresented, "said Justenhoven.

The proportion of women on the boards of the DAX30 companies had declined since the end of 2012 from 7.8% to 5.5% in July 2014. The end of 2014 the proportion of women had risen to 7%. The proportion of female supervisory board members in the DAX30 companies was the end of 2014 at 24.7% (survey by DIW). 2016, the statutory women's quota for supervisory boards in force and write a female share of 30% before.

The salary gap decreased slightly

In many countries declined last year, the salary gap between women and men from 16 to 14%. The proportion of employed women remained at 72%, the proportion of women in full-time employment at 62% constant, as the unemployment rate of women (5%) and the difference between the proportions of women and men at work (72 to 82%).

The "Women in Work" index measures the participation of women in economic activity of an economy based on five standardized and weighted criteria, which are aggregated into an index value:

• Salary differentials (25%)
• Proportion of women in employment (25%)
• The difference between the proportions of women / men in employment (20%)
• Unemployment rate of women (20%)
• Proportion of women in full-time employment (10%).

The index measures both absolute and relative progress, taking into account the latest data from the OECD. The "Women in Work" index can take values from 0 to 100. The base value for the year 2000 was set at 50.

Compared to last year the increase "Women in Work" index of average 58.6 to 59.1 points slightly. 19 of the 27 OECD countries can improve their index value. Especially clearly are the improvements in the US (16 to 13th place) and Hungary (21 and 16th place). In the United States today more women are working in full-time jobs.

In Hungary, one can observe that the equal participation of women in the labor market is highly dependent on the overall economic development. 2007 occupied Hungary in ranking even the 7th Place. By 2012, it crashed on the 21th Place and could again be significantly improved. An opposite trend is evident in southern Europe. Because the salary differences between men and women in Portugal have increased, it slips four places and among the OECD average from (14th to 18th place).

Italy and Greece remained as in the past years under the OECD average. The "Women in Work" value decreases both in Italy (41.5 to 40.4 points) and Greece (33.9 to 33.8 points) compared to last year.