Women as a Potential of the European Labour Force

We investigate the problems and the potential solutions to the challenge of increasing women's participation on the European labour market. We focus on three major issues, linked to different moments in women' s life course. Firstly, we look at the youngest women's difficulties related to school-to-work transitions and the beginning of the working careers as well as the challenges related to childbearing. In the next step we analyze the patterns of lifelong learning among women and its potential to improve their human capital, skills and thus productivity, labour incomes and employment potential. We emphasize the necessity to adapt a gender perspective of lifelong learning, as different forces are affecting the career and educational choices and mobility of women and men, and these also vary over time. Finally, we investigate the labour market attachment of older cohorts and discuss the most prospective options of extending females working lives.