Global General

Gender inequality reduced but still persists in Brazil

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-18 16:32

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil managed to reduce the country's gender inequality in the past few years, but the gap still persists, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGS) said Friday.

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Brazilian women are generally more educated, having an average 7.7 years of schooling against 7.4 years of men. Working women have an average 8.8 years of schooling, while their male counterparts have an average 7.7 years, according to IBGE.

However, women still earned 70.7 percent of men's salaries in the country. Women were biased more severely within more educated workers. Among those with 12 or more years of schooling, women earned merely 58 percent of men's salaries.

The proportion of women with formal jobs increased from 41.5 percent in 1999 to 48.8 percent in 2009, but it's still lower than that of employed men, which is at 53.2 percent.

Women worked an average 36.5 hours a week against 43.9 hours of men. However, more educated women generally worked more than those with less education, while among men, the more educated work less.

Besides, Brazilian women were also occupied with housework (26.6 hours a week). They spent twice as long as men doing family chores.