Introduction Special Issue “On Gender Perspectives in Public Economics”

Abstract

Gender gaps are still wide. Data recently published by Eurostat (2020) testify that, despite progress, equality is yet to be reached. This holds both in the labour market and in politics, where progress has been much slower. According to the World Economic Forum (2020), the world as a whole has closed only 58% of the gender gap in economic participation and opportunities; the corresponding number for political empowerment is 25%. The staggering progress in female empowerment in the labour market is in stark contrast with women having caught up, and in most instances overtaken, men in educational attainment: in the EU-27, the share of women with tertiary education in the 30-34 age group is 45%; the share of men is 34%. Differences in the labour market perpetuate themselves also after retirement, when the share of women at risk of poverty surpasses that of men. According to the OECD (2019), the average old-age poverty rates for women and men in the OECD equal 15.7% and 10.3%, respectively. Lower earnings-related pension income and longer life expectancy are among the main drivers of higher poverty incidence among women than among men. This is not all: gaps in financial literacy between men and women make the latter more prone to low income risk, since they are less equipped to adequately provide for themselves during old age.