Gender differences in quality of life

Despite decades of policy promoting emancipation, gender differences still constitute a major social problem in Europe. In terms of social inequality and quality of life, women run a higher risk than men of being among the disadvantaged groups (Padavic and Reskin, 2002; EC, 2008). Comparable data from the UNECE’s Gender Statistics Database show that women in each of the eight countries in this research project have a smaller chance of being economically active and economically independent than men; they are also at a higher risk of unemployment, make less money when they do have jobs, are more often among the ‘working poor’ and have less institutional power than men in the workplace. Single mothers run a particularly high risk of poverty (Ypei, 2009). Moreover, due in part to persistent financial hardship, they also run a higher risk of depression (Brown and Moran, 1997), a dramatic expression of a lack of quality of life.