Women on the Labour Market : Specific weaknesses in eight countries representative of the European Union

This report sets out a detailed analysis of the specific weaknesses typical of women's working lives in Europe. In order to give an overview of the situation in all 27 EU Member States, eight countries have been selected in the light of the conclusions reached by the comparative literature on welfare states and their socio-economic characteristics. Each country is deemed to represent a form of societal organisation and a labour market system which typifies a subset of Member States. The eight countries examined are Germany, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Hungary. The position of women on the labour market in these eight countries is analysed from both a quantitative and a qualitative point of view based on a battery of indicators.