Women at a disadvantage

Unequal and traditional: Vorarlberg’s working world

Women earn less than men, the difference is greater in the Ländle than in the rest of Austria.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com null)

In Vorarlberg, key building blocks of society are still unequally distributed: Work and money, for example, but also housework and child rearing - always to the disadvantage of women. The Chamber of Labor is calling for measures to alleviate the situation. 

The Chamber of Labor takes International Women's Day on March 8 as an opportunity to take stock: What is the state of equality between men and women in Vorarlberg, what has been achieved and what still needs to be done? According to AK President Bernhard Heinzle, a lot has been achieved: "When it comes to equality, the overall situation for women in Vorarlberg is and remains worrying - the indicators point to persistent structural inequalities that signal an urgent need for action." 

These indicators are as follows: an extremely high part-time employment rate, a lack of career opportunities, the gender pay gap and the unequal distribution in child rearing. 

Women as homebodies at the stove
Half of the workforce in Vorarlberg is female - but only 32 percent work full-time, compared to 84 percent of part-time employees. On the other hand, childcare and child rearing is purely a women's issue in the state: 97.8% of those receiving childcare allowance are women. While only six percent of fathers with children under the age of 15 work part-time, 77 percent of mothers do (Gender Equality Report 2021). 

Eva Fischer-Schweigkofler criticizes the extremely high proportion of part-time employment among women.

(Bild: AK Vorarlberg)

"For many women, part-time is not a voluntary model, but often the only way to combine family and career," explains Eva Fischer-Schweigkofler, Head of the Family and Career Department at the Chamber of Labor. There is a lack of suitable childcare places. "This structural imbalance not only robs women of career opportunities, but also increases financial dependency and leads to poverty in old age," Fischer-Schweigkofler continues to analyze. 

Less money for the same work
Heinzle also describes as unacceptable the fact that women earn far less than men, even if they have the same qualifications, do the same job and work full-time. Vorarlberg has the largest gender pay gap in Austria. Politicians urgently need to take action here and implement the EU's pay transparency directive. Otherwise, women would continue to face the threat of poverty and dependency in old age.

On International Women's Day, we in Vorarlberg will once again hear political expressions of gratitude and well-meaning words about how important women are. But as long as nothing changes, or changes far too slowly, it is all a mockery

AK-Präsident Bernhard Heinzle

The AK also identifies another problem in the world of work: Women are still underrepresented in management positions, for example, whereas in elementary education, over 95 percent of jobs are held by women. Heinzle would like to see a clearer gender mix and points to a positive example in this context: After all, 16 of the 36 members of the Vorarlberg state parliament are female. "Progress is possible!" Heinzle concludes. "On International Women's Day, we will once again hear political expressions of gratitude and well-meaning words about how important women are in Vorarlberg," he explains. "But as long as nothing changes, or changes far too slowly, it's all a mockery."

List of demands to improve the situation
In order to fundamentally improve the situation, the AK President is calling for the expansion of child education and childcare, all-day schools and vacation care. He also wants to install a subsidized model of family working hours in order to better distribute paid and unpaid work. And finally, Heinzle hopes that pay transparency will be enshrined in law and that women will be strengthened for management positions through mentoring, support programs and binding quotas.