the Gender Equality

gender inequalities manifest in combination with age, dis/ability, country of birth, education and family type. The domain of violence against women measures and analyses women’s experiences of violence.

With 58.8 out of 100 points, Bulgaria ranks 19th on the Gender Equality Index.Bulgaria's score is 8.6 points lower than the EU's score.Between 2005 and 2017, Bulgaria's score increased by only 2.8 points (+ 0.8 points since 2015).Bulgaria has been progressing towards gender equality at a slower pace than other EU Member States.Bulgaria's ranking has dropped five places since 2005.
Bulgaria's scores are lower than the EU's scores in all domains, except the domain of power.Bulgaria's score in this domain has improved the most (+ 11.5) since 2005, placing Bulgaria 6th in the EU in this domain.Progress has stalled in the domain of knowledge (+ 0.7 points), and Bulgaria's score sharply decreased in the domain of time (-8.2 points).Bulgaria's highest score is in the domain of health (77.1 points), but this is the second lowest score in the EU.Significant challenges persist in the domains of money (61.8 points) and time (42.7 points).Both scores rank last in the EU.
Between 2005 and 2017, Bulgaria improved its Index score but had a much lower score than the EU in the entire period.Moreover, Bulgaria has moved towards gender equality at a slower rate, meaning that the gap with the EU has increased over time.Each year we score EU Member States and the EU as a whole to see how far they are from reaching gender equality.The Index uses a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 is for total inequality and 100 is for total equality.
The scores are based on the gaps between women and men and levels of achievement in six core domains: work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.Two additional domains are integrated into the Index but do not have an impact on the final score.The domain of intersecting inequalities highlights how gender inequalities manifest in combination with age, dis/ability, country of birth, education and family type.The domain of violence against women measures and analyses women's experiences of violence.
In addition to providing a snapshot into the Index scores, the Gender Equality Index 2019 includes a thematic focus on work-life balance.

Money
Bulgaria's score in the domain of money is 61.8, showing progress of 7.5 points since 2005 (-0.1 points since 2015), with improvements in the financial situation of both women and men.Poverty and inequality in terms of distribution of wealth have increased.Bulgaria's score in this domain is the lowest in the EU.
Despite the mean monthly earnings of women and men doubling from 2006 to 2014, inequalities persist: women earn 14 % less than men.The gap is even wider among women and men with low education levels: women earn 28 % less.Among single people, women earn 7 % more than men.
The risk of poverty increased for both women and men from 2006 to 2017: 24 % of women and 20 % of men are at risk.The uneven concentration of women and men in different study fields in tertiary education remains a challenge for Bulgaria.Around 32 % of women students and 17 % of men students study education, health and welfare, or humanities and art.

Time
Bulgaria's score in the domain of time has not changed since the last edition of the Index, because new data is not available.The next data update for this domain is expected in 2021.More frequent time-use data would help to track progress in this domain.
In the domain of time, Bulgaria's score is 42.7, which is the lowest in the EU.Inequalities in time share, related to both care and social activities, have risen since 2005.
Women are more likely to spend time caring for their family.Around 39 % of women and 26 % of men spend at least one hour per day on care activities.In couples with children, 93 % of women take care of their family daily, compared to 72 % of men.
Women are five times more likely to spend their time cooking and doing housework: 73 % of women compared to 13 % of men do cooking and housework every day for at least one hour.This gap has widened since 2003 and is much wider in couples with children.
Fewer women (12 %) than men (20 %) participate in sporting, cultural or leisure activities outside the home.Proportions of women (3 %) and men (2 %) involved in voluntary or charitable activities are the lowest in the EU.

Power
Bulgaria's score in the domain of power is 59.9, with an increase of 11.5 points since 2005 (+ 3.9 points since 2015).The domain of power has seen the greatest progress, placing Bulgaria sixth in the EU for this domain.
Progress in the domain's score is driven by significant improvements in the sub-domain of economic power.The share of women on the board of the central bank substantially increased from 17 % to 57 % between 2005 and 2018.The share of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies has decreased from 19 % to 15 %.Bulgaria ranks third in the sub-domain of economic power in the whole EU.
In the sub-domain of political power, the share of women

Violence
Violence against women is both a consequence and cause of persisting gender inequalities in the areas of work, health, money, power, knowledge and time.In contrast to other domains, the domain of violence does not measure differences between women's and men's situations but examines women's experiences of violence.For this reason, the domain of violence is not captured in the calculations of the Gender Equality Index.Instead, it is calculated as a separate composite measure of three aspects: prevalence, severity and disclosure of violence against women.

Thematic focus on work-life balance
Gender Equality Index 2019 focuses on work-life balance -an issue of high political importance in the EU.

Parental leave policies
Parental leave helps parents balance their caring duties and work life.However, it is often not available to all parents, or potential parents, as their eligibility might be restricted by certain conditions.For instance, countries may set employment-related eligibility conditions such as whether a person is employed, unemployed or inactive, whether the person is an employee or self-employed, the sector in which they are working, length of service, or restrict access for same-sex couples or non-citizens.Changes in the labour market, such as the spread of atypical forms of employment (e.g.temporary contracts and on-demand work, bogus self-employment, voucher-based work) have increased concerns about par-ents' access to leave, especially in cases where it is based on definitions of traditional standard employment.
In 2016, 38 % of women and 27 % of men aged 20-49 (potential parents) were ineligible for parental leave in Bulgaria.Unemployment or inactivity was the main reason for ineligibility for 75 % of women and 74 % of men.The remaining 25 % and 26 % of women and men were ineligible for parental leave due to inadequate length of employment.Same-sex parents are eligible for parental leave in Bulgaria.Among the employed population, 13 % of women and 9 % of men were ineligible for parental leave.

Informal childcare and childcare services
As the number of dual-earning and single-parent families grows, new needs for childcare services appear.High quality, available, accessible and affordable childcare services are essential to allow parents to stay in or join the labour market and reduce the gender gap in employment.
In Bulgaria, 60 % of all informal carers of children are women.
Overall, 56 % of women are involved in caring for or educating their children or grandchildren at least several times a week, compared to 52 % of men.Compared to the EU average (56 % of women and 50 % of men), the same percentage of women and slightly more men are involved in caring for or educating their children or grandchildren in Bulgaria.The gender gaps are wider among women and men who are not working (45 % and 34 %) and women and men working in the public sector (71 % and 62 %).
Bulgaria has not reached either of the Barcelona targets to have at least 33 % of children below the age of three and 90 % of children between the age of three and school age in childcare.Altogether 9 % of children below the age of three are under some kind of formal care arrangements, which is the third lowest coverage in the EU.Formal childcare is provided for 74 % of children from the age of three to the minimum compulsory school age (64 % are in formal childcare for at least 30 hours a week).Around 3 % of women and men report unmet needs for formal childcare services, this is among the lowest percentage in the EU.

Informal care for older persons and persons with disabilities and long-term care services
Available, accessible, and affordable care services and infrastructure are crucial if people with caring responsibilities are to maintain a healthy balance between their care duties and work life.This is especially relevant for women, who are often more engaged than men in both formal and informal care of older persons and/or persons with disabilities.In light of emerging demographic trends, such as ageing societies, lower birth rates and consequently the decline of the working age population, the need for formal and informal long-term care services becomes more important than ever.
Most informal carers of older persons and/or persons with disabilities in Bulgaria are women (65 %).The shares of women and men involved in informal care of older persons and/or people with disabilities several days a week or every day are 9 % and 6 %, respectively.The proportion of women involved in informal care is 6 p.p. lower than the EU average, while the involvement of men is 4 p.p. lower.Overall, 16 % of women and 6 % of men aged 50-64 take care of older persons and/or persons with disabilities; in the 20-49 age group, 6 % of carers are women and 4 % are men.Around 29 % of women carers of older persons and/or persons with disabilities are employed, compared to 36 % of men combining care with professional responsibilities.There are also fewer women than men informal carers working in the EU.But the gender gap is narrower in Bulgaria than in the EU (7 p.p. compared to 14 p.p. for the EU).In the 50-64 age group, 36 % of women informal carers work, compared to 17 % of men.Around 47 % of women and 43 % of men in Bulgaria report unmet needs for professional home care services.

Transport and infrastructure
Access to affordable and quality public infrastructure, such as care and educational facilities, health services and transportation, impacts women's and men's opportunities to balance paid work with other activities.The uneven division of caring duties and household tasks between women and men influences the ways in which they use or need certain types of transport and infrastructure.Time spent commuting is a good indication of whether existing public infrastructure helps or hinders women and men in juggling their everyday activities.
In Bulgaria, women and men spend almost equal amounts of time commuting to and from work (around 33-34 minutes per day).Couples with or without children spend similar time commuting compared to couples with children.
Single people spend around the same time commuting as people in couples do, with single men travelling around 36 minutes per day compared to 31 minutes per day for single women.Women spend slightly more time commuting than men, if they work part-time, but both women and men spend almost the same time travelling travel to and from work if working full-time.Women working part-time travel 31 minutes from home to work and back, and men commute 30 minutes, compared to 34 minutes for women and men working full-time.
Generally, men are more likely to travel directly to and from work, whereas women make more multi-purpose trips, to fit in other activities such as school drop-offs or grocery shopping.

European Institute for Gender Equality
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is the EU knowledge centre on gender equality.EIGE supports policymakers and all relevant institutions in their efforts to make equality between women and men a reality for all Europeans by providing them with specific expertise and comparable and reliable data on gender equality in Europe.

© European Institute for Gender Equality, 2019
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.More than three quarters of women (84 %) and men (76 %) are unable to change their working arrangements in Bulgaria, which represents the highest restrictions for both women and men for access to flexible working time in the EU (where 57 % of women and 54 % of men have no control over their working time arrangements).Among public-sector employees, 93 % of women and 97 % of men have no possibility to change their working arrangements, compared to 65 % of women and 62 % of men public-sector employees in the EU overall.Among private-sector employees, 81 % of women and 71 % of men have no control over their working time.
Even though women are over-represented among part-time workers, they are less likely than men to transition from part-time to full-time work in the majority of EU countries.In 2017, 7 % of women part-time workers transitioned to fulltime work, compared to 15 % of men.

Lifelong learning
Constant advances in technology require workers to upskill continuously and stay up-to-date with new developments and technologies over the course of their careers.Lifelong learning is a catalyst for gender equality as it gives women and men greater choice in their work options and more opportunities to achieve their full potential.Insufficient financial resources and time-related barriers such as conflicts with work schedules and/or family responsibilities can prevent access to lifelong learning for both women and men.Lifelong learning can help women re-enter the labour market after career breaks due to care responsibilities.
Bulgaria has the second lowest participation rate in lifelong learning (2 %) in the EU, with no gender gap.Men (aged 25-64) are more likely to participate in education and training than women regardless of their employment status.Conflicts with work schedules are a greater barrier to participation in lifelong learning for women (60 %) than for women (50 %).Family responsibilities are reported as barriers to engagement in education and training for 25 % of women compared to 15 % of men.Work schedules are more of an obstacle for participation in lifelong learning in Bulgaria than in the EU overall, while family responsibilities are reported as less of an obstacle than the EU average.In the EU, 38 % of women and 43 % of men report their work schedule as an obstacle and 40 % of women and 24 % of men report that family responsibilities hinder participation in lifelong learning.
Read more about the Gender Equality Index at http://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index European Institute for Gender Equality Gedimino pr.16 LT-01103 Vilnius LITHUANIA RO PL LT HR CZ CY BG LV EE PT MT IT AT DE EU-28 SI LU ES BE IE NL UK FI FR DK SE

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increase since 2005 ▼ decrease since 2005 In addition to work-life balance related indicators captured by the Index (e.g. in the domains of work, time and knowledge), the thematic focus presents additional indicators -a work-life balance scoreboard (WLB scoreboard).The WLB scoreboard cuts across three broad areas: paid work, unpaid work (care) and education and training.It presents 15 indicators in six specific areas of concern: parental leave policies; caring for children and childcare services; informal care for older persons and persons with disabilities and long-term care services; transport and infrastructure; flexible working arrangements; and lifelong learning.

Gender Equality Index 2019: Bulgaria Gender Equality Index scores for EU Member States, 2005 and 2017 Progress in Bulgaria is slower than the EU average
Around 3 % of women work part-time, compared to 2 % of men, which are the lowest rates in the EU.On average, women work 40 hours per week and men 41.The uneven concentration of women and men in different sectors of the labour market remains an issue.Around 18 % of women work in education, health and social work, compared to 4 % of men.Bulgaria has the highest proportion of women (11 %) working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations in the EU (compared to 28 % of men).This gender gap is the second lowest in the EU.
The calculation of scores relied on the 2014 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights survey data results.No EU-wide survey on gender-based violence has been carried out since then.Until the completion of the next survey, the scores cannot be updated.
Bulgaria does not provide data on women victims of intentional homicide by an intimate partner or family member.Nor does it provide data estimating the proportion of girls (in the resident migrant population) at risk of female genital mutilation.Statistics on trafficking in human beings are gathered and reported.There were 409 registered women victims of trafficking in human beings in 2016.Comparable data, disaggregated by sex, is essential to the development of EU-wide strategies on preventing and eliminating violence against women across Member States.
Flexible working arrangements, such as opportunities to transition between part-time and full-time work, flexibility in working hours and remote work, typically give employees a greater ability to control how much, when and where they can work.If carefully designed, keeping in mind the different needs of women and men, flexible working arrangements can make it easier to balance work and family life.They can support people with caring responsibilities to enter the labour market, as full-time employees.