D4.1 Gender norms and parents' employment characteristics in Europe

In 2023, 79.7% of women aged 25 to 54 without children were employed in the European Union, a rate 4.8 percentage points higher than that of women with children, whose employment rate stood at 74.9%. Although this gap has narrowed over the past two decades, it remains significant. Conversely, the impact of parenthood on men’s employment is the opposite. In 2023, 91.9% of men in the same age group with children were employed, compared to 83.7% of men without children. Differences by gender and parental status are also important for other labour market features — see Figure 1. For example, women are much more likely to work in a part-time basis than men, particularly mothers. Self- employment is more common among men than among women, with fathers being the most likely to establish themselves in such type of employment. Mothers are the most likely to work from home whereas fathers are the least likely.