THE ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENCES OF WOMEN'S AND MEN'S STATUS IN THE LABOUR MARKET

Despite a great interest in differences between women's and men's status in the labour market, implementation problems of gender equality, there is no steady and agreed approach concerning the selection and application of assessment indexes for gender status in the labour market and there is little attention paid to the fact that not only economic and social factors, but cultural and institutional environment of the country impact differences between women's and men's status. The research objective is based on the analysis of influencing factors related to the participation of women and men in the labour market to assess of quantitative parameters of gender participation in the labour market. The following objectives have been set out: 1. Having summarized various complex indexes assessing gender equality, to define influencing factors of gender participation in the labour market. 2. To define the main components of index for evaluation of woman and men participation in the labour market on the basis on the list of the main indicators representing gender inequalities in labour market participation. 3. To apply the developed index for assessment of inequalities in labour market participation between man and woman in Lithuania and compare obtained results with the assessment of situation in other EU member states. Consequently there was completed a complex index (I-LDDR) for the gender participation in the labour market. It assesses differences between women's and men's status in the labour market in Lithuania and reveals not only the division of economic possibilities between women and men, and the influencing social factors related to women's and men's status in the labour market, but assesses environmental impact of a cultural and institutional country.