In the realm of workplace issues, the one that most distinctly affects women and not men is maternity. No matter how involved men become in family life, it's still women who deliver the babies. European Union members provide at least 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, as a way to keep childbearing from becoming a cause for discrimination against women in the workplace.
Policies are even more generous in the former Soviet bloc.
Although women in the EU are supposed to be able to return to a position equivalent to the one they left, reality is sometimes different. Annemie Cranshof, a human-resources manager at European Air Transport NV, a unit of DHL International Ltd. in Belgium, felt bullied after the birth of her second daughter, Charlotte, about six years ago. Upon her return, her boss reorganized the department, giving her and her colleague new assignments. Her boss told her a transfer to the air-transport company from the main DHL company would be the perfect job for her, because it was small, not very stressful, perfect to combine with a family and that she could eventually work four out of five days. The Wall Street Journal Europe's survey on women's issues, conducted in association with Arthur Andersen, asked 1,114 women about maternity-leave issues.