According to data from the Bank of Lithuania, women in Lithuania earn on average 10% less than men, and the announcement has sparked renewed criticism of government inaction.
Bank economist Rokas Budrauskas said the gap is most pronounced in industries that employ mostly women, where average wages are lower than in sectors where men are the main workers. He noted that in June, women in no age group earned more than men of the same age, and only after the age of 50 does the gap narrow to less than a hundred euros.
Budrauskas explained that the biggest difference in salary appears around the age of 32-33, which coincides with the average return to work from parental leave.
Data from the State Social Insurance Agency shows that when looking at the wage gap over an annual period, the wage gap is even more noticeable, reaching 13%.
The Office of the Equal Opportunities has criticized the government for inaction and failure to set strategic goals. Its representative Mintaute Jurkutė said that horizontal implementation of gender equality principles is not enough, and plans with specific goals are needed, for example, to reduce the wage gap within five years. The country currently does not have such.
Jurkutė also emphasized
the burden that women face when they have to simultaneously work and care for children
or elderly family members. “Women often interrupt their careers for child-rearing or elder care, while men do not. This invisible discrimination needs to be addressed,” Jurkutė said.
The Office of the Equal Opportunities has received complaints about unequal pay, but it is difficult to prove this. The bureau hopes that the situation will change when the European Union’s Pay Transparency Directive is adopted, which will require employers to disclose and report average salaries by gender.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian State Labour Inspectorate has said that it has not received any complaints about gender-based wage discrimination. Šarūnas Orlavičius, a spokesman for the inspectorate, said that employees are afraid to report it for fear of losing their jobs. “But if there is evidence of discrimination, the employer is the one breaking the law, not the employee,” Orlavičius added.
From 2026, all employers will be obliged to publish information on average salaries for women and men in the same job categories, giving employees the opportunity to fight injustice.
Read the full article in English here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2650744/lithuanian-women-earn-10-less-than-men-watchdogs-call-for-action
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