Only 0.1% of Albanian men have chosen not to work in favour of staying at home to take over domestic responsibilities when compared to 11% of women, according to data from a collaborative study between INSTAT, UN Women, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the United Nations in Albania.
The report was designed to understand the peculiarities of female poverty in Albania through several indicators; at-risk-of-poverty, severe material deprivation, low work intensity, and at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion.
Results show a significant discrepancy in the care burden afforded to women while showing that men are not ready, able, or willing to assume domestic tasks and caring obligations. This has a direct impact on women’s vulnerability of falling into poverty.
The report also demonstrated concerning gender gaps in several areas. For example, 19% of women were unemployed while only 17% of men reported the same. Women in full-time employment totaled 23%, compared to 32% for men.
Women are more likely to live in a household with a dependent child and are less likely to achieve a higher level of education than men.
In terms of health, men reported they were healthier than their female counterparts. Some 18.7% of women also said they had unmet medical examination or treatment needs. This was the same for dental care, where 24.5% of women said they had unmet needs, compared to 22% of men. More women said they could not afford dental treatment than men.
Girls and women overall show a higher risk of social exclusion or falling into poverty when compared to boys and men.
At-risk-of poverty based on the labour market status of the respondents confirms that the most vulnerable are those that are not participating in the labour market, either because of not being able to get a job or because of other factors such as having a disability or being engaged in household chores. This analysis shows that the higher the risk of poverty faced by households higher the gender differences in the labour market status.
The proportion of individuals living with severe deprivation of material goods is 35,3%, with no gender variation at the individual level.
