Report: Globally Women Work More but Earn Less Than Men

• Every region of the world sees women working a larger number of hours annually than men
• The amount of time women spend doing unpaid domestic work is substantial and plays a major role in their overall hours worked each year

Women contribute more to the total number of hours worked than men in every region of the world when unpaid domestic labour is included, while receiving a notably smaller share of global labour income.

The report estimates that women account for the majority of the total working hours worldwide when both paid and unpaid labour are considered but receive approximately 28 percent of the total labor income.

Long-term improvements in women's educational attainment and participation in labor markets have not yet brought about gender parity in either income or employment in any region.

One of the important findings in this report is that there is a disparity in work hours and earnings. The global average working hours per year decreased from 61 to approximately 40 per week between 1800 and 2025 due to productivity and labor laws.

Meanwhile, productivity per hour has surpassed twenty times from €0.7 to €16.5 per hour on a global level. However, this reduction in working hours has positively affected men compared to women, though women continue to work under high levels of workload due to household work.

When unpaid working hours are taken into account, more hours are worked by women relative to men in each region.

The bigger difference is, however, in South and Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East/North Africa, where the average number of hours that women work is 12-to-13 hours more for each week relative to men. For Europe/North America, the difference is 6-to-7 hours for each week.

Employment gaps are major causes of these inequalities. Globally, it is less likely that women are engaged in the workforce compared to males. In South and Southeast Asia & The Middle East & North Africa, there are 32-34 women to every 100 men employed.

The employment share is higher in Europe, North America & Oceania, & Russia & Central Asia, where there are 89 to 93 women to every 100 employed males.

For those who have jobs, wage gaps still exist. In 2025, women earn on average 71 percent of men’s wages world widely, up from 69 percent in 1990.

In Sub-Saharan Africa as well as South and Southeast Asia, women earn an average of 66 percent of men’s wages. In more developed areas, for example, Europe, Northern America, as well as East Asia, women earn an average of 75 percent of men’s wages.

According to the report, the problem of gender inequality in labor outcomes is structural, not transient. It is stated that without policies regarding unpaid care work, access to childcare and family support, and employment and pay, parity of gender in the economy is not apt to be attained.