Gender Inequality in Workplace authority. Recent Developments in European Countries

Women still less often occupy positions with workplace authority and when they do, they often supervise other women. To what extent women have improved their position in the labor market  in this respect over the last decades, is however, largely unknown. This study investigates this question for the past 30 years in the Netherlands and the last decade in a number of European countries. It is found that women gained authority, but they do not more often supervise men than in the past. Women’s increased human capital is driving the changes. Country differences with respect to policies, family friendly working conditions, and egalitarian gender norms do not seem to affect the gender gap in authority, at least not in a consistent way. The more authority women have, the more likely they are to supervise men.