J16 - Economics of Gender; Non-labor DiscriminationReturn

The growing participation of women in the labour market has been undoubtedly one of the main features of the evolution of the economies of the European Union (EU) during the last few decades. Nevertheless, maintaining this increase remains an important policy goal due to the existing population ageing and gender employment gap. This paper aims to analyse the main determinants of female labour force participation (FLFP) in the EU countries using panel data regression analysis covering the period from 2000 to 2021. By employing the fixed-effects regression analysis, an influence of dependent variables such as GDP per capita, presence of anti-discrimination laws, equal opportunities laws and affirmative action, women's participation in parliament work, total fertility rate, paid parental leave, retirement age with full pension benefits, women's education and annual net earnings are assessed on the female labour participation rate in the European Union. Moreover, the robust standard error procedure is performed for model estimation. The empirical results indicate that GDP per capita, total fertility rate, equal age of retirement for men and women, annual net earnings, female upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education and tertiary education enrolment represent significant determinants of FLFP, where all the stated variables have a positive influence on the FLFP rates. Therefore, improvement in education levels, annual net earnings and gender equality policies influence women to participate more in labour markets. These findings demonstrate the significance of improving education and earnings levels and the necessity of the development of adequate policies that will provide that.
Implications for Central European audience: The results of this study provide insightful findings concerning the main drivers of female labour force participation in the European Union by taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic period labour market indicators.

Extensive empirical evidence shows that women perform worse in financial literacy tests, which implies that their financial behaviour may also be worse compared to men. However, the literature on the gender gap in financial behaviour is scanty and highly inconclusive. Using data from a survey of married and cohabiting couples living in Poland (N=1,000) and a multi-dimensional scale validated in terms of its psychometric properties, this article compares the financial behaviour of women and men. The applied tests did not show any significant gender differences in the overall financial behaviour index or in any of the subdomains of the behaviour distinguished in the applied scale. Using the social identity theory as a framework, we discuss possible explanations of these puzzling findings, which may imply that women are unnecessarily considered a disadvantaged group in terms of preparedness to participate in financial life, including the business sphere.
Implications for Central European audience: Assuming that the gender differences in financial literacy and behaviour can be explained on the grounds of the social identity theory, Central and Eastern Europe may differ from Western Europe in terms of the gender gap. Socially-imposed gender roles were presumably shaped differently behind the Iron Curtain, which resulted in that the distinction between masculine and feminine roles got blurred under the Soviet regime. As a result, the absence of gender differences in financial behaviour is more likely to occur in Central and Eastern European countries. Financial education initiatives should take this circumstance into account.