Are European social spending policies effective in the fight against gender inequality?

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to analyse the factors that influence a greater or lesser decrease in gender inequality, paying special attention to the role of social policy. To this end, a measure of inequality in the distribution of income between men and women has been developed and a panel of data has been estimated for 33 European countries and a time period of 15 years. The results show that income inequality in general, as measured by the Gini index, and gender inequality based on differences in the distribution of income between men and women are closely linked, and that retirement benefits and women’s educational attainment are the tools that most improve gender equity in income distribution.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender inequality
• institutional quality
• social benefits
• Gini index
• schooling years

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).