ABSTRACT
This chapter provides Intra-European differences in terms of women’s employment. It examines work within the home, how it is divided between women and men and, crucially, the extent to which this work is outsourced to other institutions. The chapter also examines the entry of women into top jobs across Europe and the paradox that greater gender equality has increased basic socio-economic inequality. In the 2010s a major focus of EU policy has been supporting gender equality among decision-makers. Now some households comprise high-earning men and women: such assortative mating suggests that growing equality between women and men can parallel growing inequality in the society. Esping-Andersen’s thesis has been rejected by most econometric studies, which report that overall women’s rising employment has actually restrained growing income inequality. Today dual earning couples are making their own dual contribution to greater inequality between households.
