site.btaWomen in EU Earn Less than Men, Gender Pay Gap in Bulgaria Averages 20%

Working women in the European Union (EU) earn, on the average, 13% less than men for the same job, European Women's Lobby (EWL) President Iliana Balabanova told BTA's Borislava Bibinovska on Thursday. Luxembourg is the only country where women and men average equal salaries, with a slight female advantage.

Balabanova is also Chair and Founder of the Bulgarian Platform of the EWL. She noted that the average gross annual salary of women in Bulgaria is about 20% lower than that of men, with the gap remaining relatively stable from 2008 to 2022. According to Balabanova, the average gross salary of women in Bulgaria represents between 79% and 82% of men’s salaries.

These findings come from a study by the Bulgarian Platform of the EWL, conducted by Zangador Research Institute, covering statistics for the 2008-2022 period. Balabanova emphasized that the results confirm the trend of women's average gross annual salaries being lower than men's across the economy.

The sectors with the largest gender pay gaps include finance and insurance, healthcare and social work, culture and sports, and manufacturing. Significant disparities are also observed in information creation and distribution and the creative industries. The smallest pay gaps between men and women are in agriculture and forestry, electricity and heat production and distribution, transportation, and public administration.

The study found two economic sectors in which women earn more than men: administrative and support services, where the average gross annual salary of women ranges from 101% to 121% of men's salaries, and construction, where women's average gross annual salary is between 98% and 113% of men’s earnings, Balabanova said.

One of the economic sectors where the gender pay gap has widened between 2008 and 2022 is hospitality and restaurant services. The study found that the average gross annual salary of women in this sector decreased from 84% of men’s salaries in 2008 to 79% in 2022. Another sector with a growing wage gap is financial and insurance activities, where women’s average gross annual salary fell from 71% of men’s earnings in 2008 to 61% in 2022.

Meanwhile, the economic activities where gender wage disparities have decreased during the 2008-2022 period include electricity and heat production and distribution, gas supply, transportation, warehousing, postal services, and education.

In Bulgaria, Women Lack Representation in Government

Beyond wage disparities, the Bulgarian Platform of the EWL examined women's rights and roles in decision-making on economic and social issues, including climate change. The organization has highlighted the fact that the Zhelyazkov Government has only one female member - Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova. Following the Cabinet's appointment in January, the Platform issued an open letter questioning why only one woman was included in the Government. Balabanova told BTA that this reflects a "classic patriarchal model of governance."

She stressed that with only one woman in the Cabinet, Bulgarian women cannot expect their interests and concerns to be adequately addressed or protected. Balabanova also noted that the 66th Bulgarian government, which governed the country from 1947 to 1949, also had only one female minister - meaning that, 75 years later, Bulgaria is in the same situation once again.

Women in Bulgaria also remain underrepresented in economic decision-making. Statistics show that the share of women on the boards of the largest publicly registered companies has declined from 19% in 2023 to 18% in 2024, Balabanova stated. She pointed out that this is 16 percentage points below the EU average.

Trends in Europe and the Gender Equality Index

"Despite some improvements, women in Europe still suffer from gender disparities in wages, workforce participation, employment, and hierarchical positions in the workplace," Balabanova said. She highlighted that the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) provides valuable data and analyses on gender equality in the EU, publishing the annual EU Gender Equality Index.

The index measures gender disparities between women and men in six key areas - work, money, education, time, power, and health - using 31 indicators, she explained. The index operates on a scale from 1 to 100, where 1 represents complete inequality, and 100 represents full equality.

"If full gender equality is measured at 100, the current level in the EU is 71 points, which is considered slow progress. Compared to 2023, there has been an insignificant increase of 0.8 points," Balabanova explained. Bulgaria scores 64.5 out of 100 in the Gender Equality Index, which is 6.5 points below the EU average, she commented.

The index also shows that while women's employment in the EU has increased, the gender pay gap remains highly visible. The European Women's Lobby President pointed out that gender stereotypes still influence women’s roles in society, particularly regarding childcare and household responsibilities, which hinder their professional development. "Nearly one in three women in the EU who are out of the labor force but want to work say it is due to caregiving responsibilities," Balabanova stated.

Gender Stereotypes and Sexism

"One of the topics we are currently working on is gender stereotypes and sexism in Bulgaria," Balabanova said. She mentioned an upcoming study on complaints filed with the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) regarding one of the reality TV formats aired on Bulgarian television.

The EWL is also monitoring efforts to align Bulgarian legislation with the EU Directive against violence against women and domestic violence, adopted in 2024.

Since January 2025, the organization has been working on a project titled "Skills and Capacity for Defending the Right to Equality." Over the next ten months, it will develop training modules to build capacity and knowledge on maternity rights and protection from gender-based violence among its members, activists, partners, and allies, Balabanova stated.

"In this way, we will consolidate knowledge in two key areas of gender equality law, develop skills for handling various legal situations, and improve the ability to defend these rights through strategic litigation," she explained.