Slovenia

Despite the fact that women's equality is commonly accepted in the Republic of Slovenia (RS), inequality persists. In 2001, a referendum was presented to voters that asked them to decide if a single woman should have the right to medically assisted conception. Following a heated public debate that exposed lingering prejudices and stereotypes, the referendum failed. The majority determined that single women need a man's active participation in conception and that a single woman cannot provide a proper upbringing for her child. Despite these feelings, currently about one-half of all children in the RS are born to unmarried mothers.

Women account for more than half of Slovenia's 2 million people, and their average life expectancy exceeds men's by seven years, to 82 years, and they represent nearly half of the country's active population. More than 90 percent of women are employed full time. Women's participation in the workforce has become a traditional value in this region. All periodic attempts aimed at returning women to the home, which are backed by some political parties as well as the Catholic Church in Slovenia, have been futile.

Women's intensive participation in the Slovenian labor market is connected to their education level. Women in the RS have a somewhat higher average level of education than men; among the EU countries, the RS ranks first, with 94 percent of women aged 20 to 24 who have finished at least secondary school. Women constitute a majority among students at Slovenian universities. Nevertheless, Slovenian education is characterized by an exceptionally high gender polarization in the choice of students’ studies; women show a strong preference for the humanities and social sciences and much less for science and technology. This also is reflected in strong gender polarization of the occupational structure. The RS is characterized by a comparatively high degree of [Page 1362]feminization in education, healthcare, social services, and judicial administration. Women dominate in service industries such as trade, catering, tourism, and financial intermediation. They also formed the major labor force in the processing industry; however, most of this sectors’ enterprises have been shut down in the past decade, leaving their strictly specialized and poorly educated workers unemployed.

The areas least accessible to RS women are concentrated in social and political power. The cases of women who have succeeded in attaining top managerial positions are extremely rare. There are other occupations in which women are faced with these “glass ceilings,” even those in which women represent the majority of employees. Within different levels of state politics, women have comparatively fewer opportunities now than in the era of socialism. The Slovenian Parliament is one of few with a small number of female representatives, only 13 percent. No improvement is expected. Following the municipal elections of 2006, only seven of 210 mayors in the RS are women. In the RS, women continue to be the ones doing most of the unpaid household work and taking sick leaves to take care of family members. Compared with their male colleagues, women are paid less for their work. The average difference in earnings is 8 percent; the differences, however, tend to increase with better paying and professionally more challenging employment. In the Slovenian language, the word poverty is a feminine gender noun; the risk-of-poverty rate is greater in women than in men. It is older, single, inactive, and unemployed women in particular that face the greatest risk.

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