Bulgaria has been crowned as the best European country for women to work.
That is according to a study conducted by Reboot Online, which evaluated a variety of factors that contribute to women’s success in the workforce.
It created a points-based index to determine which countries on the continent offered the best prospects for female professionals, assessing economic opportunity, including the gender pay gap, women in leadership, and maternity leave.
Bulgaria scored 236.6 points out of a possible 300 after offering the best maternity leave package in Europe. It also ranked second-best for women in leadership, losing out only to Norway which boasts one of the most egalitarian societies in the world.
Croatia pulled in second place with a combined total of 229.9 points, with the second-highest points for economic opportunity and maternity leave. The country also registered the second-highest points for economic opportunity, losing out to Italy.
Rounding up the top five was Estonia, Norway and Slovakia, and the Netherlands, while Slovenia, Romania and Italy ranked sixth, seventh and eighth in Europe.
The Czech Republic finished in the 21st spot, scoring 110 points in total. In terms of equal economic opportunities, it ended among the last five countries.
On the opposite end of the scale was Turkey, which scored just 39.9 out of 300. Despite its poor performance, the country earned more points for women in leadership than countries traditionally known for being equal such as Germany and Austria.
Naomi Aharony, chief executive and co-founder at Reboot Online, said: “The overall results have suggested that there is some progress in terms of gender equality in the workplace in Europe.
“Balkan countries such as Bulgaria and Croatia ranked highly, indicating that there are some improvements being made. Although, the disappointing positions of affluent Western European countries such as Germany and Denmark reaffirm that the progress towards gender parity remains slow in Europe.
“Although it is good to see some advancement women still face numerous challenges when it comes to gender equality in the workplace that involves not only the wage gap, lack of leadership representation, government incentives and work-life balance. The prevailing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have undoubtedly intensified these challenges, with working mothers taking the brunt of the repercussions.”
