Gender gap in European families

Catia Nicodemo, Tor Vergata University

The increase of the female labour force participation has made a change in family forms, equals opportunities and in family responsibility. The commitment between work and family is one of the major topics on the European social agenda, with another important topic: to eliminate the gender gap between males and females. In this paper we analyzed the gender gap in the family using data from five EU countries. Wives suffer two types of discrimination: a lower wage with respect the husband’s and the primary responsibility for children. Cross-section and panel data techniques are used to estimate wage equations for husbands and wives over time (1994-2001). Using the selectivity correction in the wage of married women we find that the wage gap decomposition is different if we ignore self-selection. Different methods to study gender gap are used to investigate the family gender gap.