How desirable is gender equality in the rural labour market? The evidence from Spain and Poland

The article focuses on women’s situation in the labour market in rural areas compared to men and on determinants that influence the labour market supply in Poland and Spain. The article examines these countries’ levels of gender parity. Through the theory of labour supply, the work presents problems women face when trying to participate in the labour force and wasted potential caused by lower performance compared to men. The methods applied in the research include: a critical literature review in order to place the research in its proper context and show the extension of the research beyond the state-of-the-art, as well as statistical analyses based on the data from national and European databases to show the statistically significant differences between the groups in question such as demographic, legal, socio-cultural and economic aspects. The paper concludes that women in rural areas, besides being more educated, have lower participation in the labour market. The gender gaps considering economic activity and gender pay gaps are higher in rural areas than in urban ones. The level of gaps are quite high in both countries. Lower wages in the occupations chosen by women, having different categories when choosing a job or rural areas specifics (higher number of children, more traditional household division of labour), among others, may be the reasons for gender gaps.