Abstract:

Gender bias remains an ongoing challenge in the labour market in the 21st century. Women often suffer from a gender pay gap, limited prospects for career progression and prejudice regarding their professional aptitude. This prejudice may manifest itself in a variety of ways, covering professional decision-making, gender-biased job offers, candidate selection, promotion, and wage. Although there has been significant progress in the field of gender equality awareness and implementation, the issue remains a critical problem, causing difficulty not only for women but also for the job market due to wasted talent and restricted growth potential. Continuous action is required to fight this type of discrimination and encourage inclusive and equal working environments. Against this backdrop, the study addresses the concept of gender discrimination in the labour market and offers an exploratory analysis of some international practices that have been conducted in this area. The study is based on existing literature and empirical research involving data collection in eight European countries, which enabled the identification of 38 good practices at international level, which were divided into two categories: Good Practices in Vocational Guidance and Good Practices in Combating Gender Stereotypes (Education and Enterprise). The study was carried out as part of the European project GUIDE - Upgrading the skills of professionals for gender-sensitive career guidance -, involving the participation of eight European countries, namely Denmark, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.

Keywords:

Gender bias, good practices, gender equality, labour market, gender stereotypes.