The gap between the average salaries received by men and women in Slovakia has narrowed over the past decade by 7 percent, but women are still being paid 20.5 percent less on average than men, Oľga Pietruchová of the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Ministry’s gender equality department said at a press conference on Thursday, April 4.
This means that women in Slovakia need to work more than two months more on average to receive the same annual salary as their male counterparts. Pietruchová said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, that the recent reduction in the salary gap is a consequence of the economic crisis and a general drop in salaries. She added that the smallest difference is between men and women who have lower salaries. “The greatest gap [between women and men] is among university graduates with top senior posts.” While the salary gap between men and women in Slovakia is roughly 20 percent, women in the European Union earn 16.2 percent less than men on average.
Also speaking at the press conference, director of the Labour and the Family Research Institute Silvia Porubänová asserted that there is sufficient scope for ambitious women in the labour market to increase their salaries. In fact, she said, women can fight for equal wages as early as during job interviews.
Source: TASR
