New report on rural resilience through a gender lens
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
- Women
- Employment
Gender-sensitive rural development is an investment in the long-term resilience of rural communities – a recent report by the EU-funded project GRANULAR explores the intersection of gender and rurality in shaping employment outcomes across Europe.
Image by Helena Lopes on Canva
The report examines gender-based disparities in labour market participation, part-time employment and care responsibilities in urban and rural areas, across the EU’s Nordic, Continental, Southern and Eastern welfare regimes. It stresses that strengthening rural resilience requires policies that support women’s full participation in rural labour markets – through access to childcare, improved mobility, local job creation and support for entrepreneurship.
Using microdata from Eurostat’s EU labour force survey to analyse trends between 2013 and 2023, the publication highlights the various context-specific patterns on the rural gender gaps in Europe:
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Rural women have significantly lower employment rates than their urban counterparts – prevalently in Southern and Eastern Europe;
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Rural women are substantially more likely to work part-time than men or urban women – in all continental and several Nordic countries;
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Care responsibilities remain a major constraint in some welfare regimes – especially in continental countries.
Discover the latest Rural Pact resources on the topic of rural women and join the dedicated Community Group to connect and exchange with peers.