Gender equality index 2017 : Lithuania.
Date: 2019-03-01
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: Lithuania, equal treatment, evaluation method, gender equality, sexual discrimination, social indicator, women's rights

Gender Equality Index 2017:  
Lithuania

The Gender Equality Index 2017 examines the progress and challenges in achieving gender equality across the European Union 
from 2005 to 2015. Using a scale from 1 (full inequality) to 100 (full equality), it measures the differences between women and 
men in key domains of the EU policy framework (work, money, knowledge, time, power and health). The Index also measures 
violence against women and intersecting inequalities. These are satellite domains and are part of the framework of the Gender 
Equality Index, but do not have an impact on the overall score. Intersecting inequalities show how gender intersects with age, 
education, family composition, country of birth and disability. The Gender Equality Index provides results for each domain and 
sub-domain for the EU and its 28 Member States (1).

Progress in gender equality in Lithuania, 2005-2015

In  the  Gender  Equality  Index  2017,  Lithuania  achieved  a  score  of 
56.8  out  of  100,  which  is  an  increase  of  1.0  point.  This  score  is 
below  the  EU-28  and  progress  is  happening  at  a  slower  pace. 
Lithuania’s  Index  rank  has  dropped  three  positions  and  currently 
stands in 19th place.

The gender equality score in health is the highest domain for Lith-
uania and there has been slight progress. Women and men have 
more  equal  access  to  medical  and  dental  services  compared  to 
the other EU Member States.

There  has  been  a  small  improvement  in  the  domain  of  work, 
which is Lithuania’s second-highest scoring domain. The score for 
the sub-domain of women’s and men’s participation in the labour 
market is the fourth best in the EU.

66.2

4.2

EU-28

LT

LT

56.8

1.0

The  biggest  improvement  took  place  in  the  domain  of  money, 
thanks  to  progress  in  the  distribution  of  earnings  and  incomes 
between women and men.

The  domain  of  knowledge  has  not  improved,  and  it  dropped 
three spots in the EU ranking.

The greatest challenges remain in the domains of time and power. 
These  scores  are  the  lowest  in  Lithuania  and  they  have  become 
more gender unequal. The amount of time women and men ded-
icate to care activities has also become more unequal. In addition, 
women’s  representation  in  the  decision-making  positions  of  the 
economic and social spheres has gone backwards.

Change in score from 2005 to 2015

(1) 

 The  Gender  Equality  Index  2017  is  based  on  the  data  of  Eurostat  (Education  statistics,  EU  Labour  Force  Survey,  European  Health  Interview  Survey,  EU 
Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, Structure of Earnings Survey), of Eurofound (European Quality of Life Survey, European Working Conditions 
Survey), of EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database (Women and Men in Decision-Making) and of the Fundamental Rights Agency’s Violence Against Women 
survey. The year of reference is 2015 (2014 for data on intersecting inequalities). The age of the reference population for the indicators is either 15+, 16+ 
or 18+, depending on the source.

Explore the Gender Equality Index at: eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-equality-index

1

Domain of work

EU-28

LT

LT
73.2
1.3

71.5

1.5

Sub-domains

Participation

Segregation and
quality of work

88.2
4.1

60.7
0.8

Work

In the domain of work, more participation of women in employment and the 
narrowing gender gap contributed to an increase in the score.

The  employment  rate  (20-64)  is  72 %  for  women  versus  75 %  for  men.  The 
total employment rate is 73 % and Lithuania has already reached its national 
Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) target (72.8 %).

When the number of hours worked is taken into account, the full-time equiva-
lent (FTE) employment rate of women is around 49 %, compared to 58 % for 
men.

Among couples with children, the FTE employment rate  for women  is 67 %, 
compared to 70 % for men. The gender gap is narrower for couples without 
children (0.1 percentage points (p.p.)). Gender differences among couples (with 
or  without  children)  are  lower  than  in  many  other  Member  States.  Among 
highly  educated  women  and  men,  the  gender  gap  is  much  narrower  com-
pared to among women and men with a middle and low level of education.

11 % of women work part-time, compared to 6 % of men. On average, women 
work  38  hours  per  week,  compared  to  39  hours  per  week  for  men.  3 %  of 
working-age  women  versus  0.2 %  of  working-age  men  are  either  inactive 
or  work  part-time  due  to  care  responsibilities.  These  gender  differences  are 
smaller than in many other Member States.

Gender  segregation  in  the  labour  market  remains  a  reality  for  both  women 
and men. Nearly 27 % of women compared to 6 % of men work in education, 
human  health  and  social  work  activities  (EHW).  Four  times  more  men  (31 %) 
than women (8 %) work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics 
(STEM) occupations.

Money

The  situation  in  the  domain  of  money  has  improved.  Gender  equality  has 
improved in earnings and income, but has not changed much in relation to 
poverty and distribution of wealth.

Mean monthly earnings of women and men have increased, but women con-
tinue to earn less. Women earn nearly 16 % less than men every month. The 
gap in earnings between women and men is even greater among lone par-
ents: lone mothers earn 33 % less than lone fathers every month.

79.6

5.7

Domain of money

EU-28

LT

LT
65.6
8.6

The population of women and men at risk of poverty has increased by 2 p.p. 
22 % of women and 20 % of men are at risk of poverty. The higher a person’s 
education,  the  lower  their  risk  of  poverty.  Women  and  men  in  couples  with 
children  are  more  at  risk  of  poverty  compared  to  women  and  men  without 
children. Lone mothers are especially vulnerable, with 43 % at risk of poverty.

Inequalities in income distribution have gone up for women and have gone 
down  for  men.  The  gender  pay  gap  is  14 %  to  the  detriment  of  women.  In 
2012,  women  had  lower  pensions  than  men  and  the  gender  gap  was  12 %. 
Both values are lower than the EU-28 average (16 % and 38 %, respectively).

Sub-domains

Financial
resources

Economic
situation

53.5
12.8

80.4
0.3

2

Explore the Gender Equality Index at: eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-equality-index

Knowledge

In the domain of knowledge, the score has barely changed. Gender equality 
in  educational  attainment  and  participation  has  slightly  improved,  whereas 
the situation concerning segregation in study fields among women and men 
has stagnated.

The  number  of  tertiary  graduates  has  increased,  especially  for  women.  33 % 
of  women  and  25 %  of  men  have  a  tertiary  degree,  and  the  gap  is  becom-
ing  wider.  Among  people  aged  65+,  the  gender  gap  is  reversed  and  more 
men  have  tertiary  education.  In  Lithuania,  68 %  of  people  aged  30-34  have 
a tertiary degree, which means that the country has already met its national 
EU2020 target of 48.7 %.

14 %  of  women  and  men  with  disabilities  have  attained  tertiary  education, 
compared to 36 % of women and 27 % of men without disabilities.

Participation  in  lifelong  learning  has  decreased  for  both  women  and  men 
(14 % for women and 15 % for men).

Domain of knowledge

EU-28

LT

LT
55.8
0.7

63.4

2.6

Sub-domains

Attainment and
participation

Segregation

Gender segregation in study fields remains a major challenge. 37 % of women 
students  are  concentrated  in  the  fields  of  education,  health  and  welfare, 
humanities and the arts, compared to 15 % of men.

68.4
1.6

45.4
0.1

Time

The  score  in  the  domain  of  time  has  dropped.  The  change  is  mainly  driven 
by more inequality in the amount of time women and men spend on caring 
activities.

Women are more likely to spend time caring for their family than men (41 % 
of women and 24 % of men spend at least 1 hour per day on caring activities).

90 % of women in a couple with children take care of their family on a daily 
basis, compared to 73 % of men. This gap tends to become narrower with age.

The difference in time women and men spend on cooking and housework is 
almost three times bigger than caring activities: 79 % of women compared to 
29 % of men do the cooking and housework every day for at least 1 hour. This 
gap has also increased and is greater in couples with children, where 97 % of 
women do the cooking compared to 23 % of men.

Unequal  time-sharing  also  extends  to  social  activities.  Men  are  more  likely 
than women to  participate in sporting,  cultural and  leisure  activities outside 
the home, whereas women are slightly more involved in voluntary or charit-
able activities.

Lithuania  has  not  met  either  of  the  ‘Barcelona  targets’,  which  are  to  have  at 
least 33 % of children below the age of three and 90 % of children between 
the age of three and school age in childcare. In Lithuania, the enrolment rates 
are 10 % and 74 %, respectively.

Domain of time

EU-28

LT

LT
50.6
2.9

65.7

1.0

Sub-domains

Care activities

Social activities

64.0
14.4

40.0
3.6

Explore the Gender Equality Index at: eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-equality-index

3

Power

The  score  in  the  domain  of  power  shows  a  slight  decrease  due  to  a  back-
wards trend in economic and social decision-making.

The representation of women on the corporate boards of publicly listed com-
panies  has  slightly  increased  (up  to  15 %).  On  the  contrary,  the  presence  of 
women  on  the  board  of  the  central  bank  has  decreased  (25 %  in  2005  and 
20 % in 2015).

More  gender  balance  in  political  decision-making  has  pushed  the  score  up. 
There are more women members in the government (21 %), in the parliament 
(24 %) and in local assemblies (25 %).

32 %  of  the  board  members  of  research-funding  organisations,  28 %  of  the 
board members of publicly owned broadcasting organisations and only 10 % 
of members of the highest decision-making bodies of national Olympic sport 
organisations are women. Lithuania has not reached the zone of gender bal-
ance (40 %) in any of these fields.

Health

The  slight  increase  in  the  health  domain  reflects  improvements  in  access  to 
services.

95 % of women and 96 % of men are able to meet their medical and dental 
needs. The situation has become more gender equal.

Life expectancy has increased for both women and men. Women live 11 more 
years than men, and this is one of the biggest differences in life expectancy 
between women and men in the EU-28. The number of healthy life years has 
also increased for both women and men (by 4 years and 3 years, respectively).

49 %  of  men  and  38 %  of  women  rate  their  health  as  ‘good’  or  ‘very  good’. 
Health satisfaction increases with a person’s level of education.

55 %  of  men  smoke  and/or  drink  excessively,  compared  to  around  18 %  of 
women. Slightly more women than men (34 % and 28 %, respectively) engage 
in  healthy  behaviour  (doing  physical  activities  and/or  consuming  fruit  and 
vegetables).

Domain of power

EU-28

LT

LT
36.6
0.7

48.5

9.6

Political

Sub-domains
Economic

40.0
4.9

30.1
2.9

Social

40.9
3.8

Domain of health

EU-28

1.5

87.4

LT

LT
79.1
1.5

Status

78.5
1.6

Sub-domains
Behaviour

Access

64.8
–

97.5
3.7

4

Explore the Gender Equality Index at: eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-equality-index

Violence

Violence against women is included in the Gender 
Equality Index as a satellite domain. This means that 
the  scores  of  the  domain  of  violence  do  not  have 
an impact on the final score of the Gender Equality 
Index. From a statistical perspective, the domain of 
violence does not measure gaps between women 
and  men  as  core  domains  do.  Rather,  it  measures 
and  analyses  women’s  experiences  of  violence. 
Unlike other domains, the overall objective is not to 
reduce the gaps of violence between women and 
men, but to eradicate violence completely.

A  high  score  in  the  Gender  Equality  Index  means 
a country is close to achieving a gender-equal soci-
ety. However, in the domain of violence, the higher 
the  score,  the  more  serious  the  phenomenon 
of  violence  against  women  in  the  country  is.  On 
a  scale  of  1  to  100,  1  represents  a  situation  where 
violence  is  non-existent  and  100  represents  a  situ-
ation  where  violence  against  women  is  extremely 
common,  highly  severe  and  not  disclosed.  The 
best-performing  country  is  therefore  the  one  with 
the lowest score.

Measurement framework of the domain of violence

CONTEXTUAL
FACTORS

• Policies
• Prevention
• Protection and support
• Substantive law
• Involvement of law 
enforcement agencies
• Societal framework

ADDITIONAL
INDICATORS
• Psychological violence
• Sexual harassment
• Stalking
• Forced marriage
• Traﬃcking in human beings
• Female genital mutilation
• Forced abortion and
forced sterilisation

COMPOSITE
MEASURE

One single score

Domain of violence

EU-28

LT

LT

25.0

Lithuania’s score for the domain of violence is 25.0, which is slightly below the 
EU average.

In Lithuania, 32 % of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence 
since the age of 15. This is similar to the EU-28 average (33 %).

27.5

10 % of women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by any 
perpetrator in the past 12 months have not told anyone. This rate is below the 
EU-28 average of 13 %.

Prevalence

Sub-domains
Severity

Disclosure

19.3

44.3

11.2

At  societal  level,  violence  against  women  costs  Lithuania  an  estimated 
EUR  1.3  billion  a  year  through  lost  economic  output,  service  utilisation  and 
personal costs (2).

The domain of violence is made up of three sub-domains: prevalence, which 
measures how often violence against women occurs; severity, which meas-
ures  the  health  consequences  of  violence;  and  disclosure,  which  measures 
the reporting of violence.

(2) 

 This  is  an  exercise  done  at  EU  level  to  estimate  the  costs  of  the  three  major  dimensions:  services,  lost  economic  output  and  pain  and  suffering  of  the 
victims. The estimates were extrapolated to the EU from a United Kingdom case study, based on population size. EIGE, Estimating the costs of gender-based 
violence in the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2014, p. 142 (http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/
MH0414745EN2.pdf).

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5

Unique features and benefits of the Gender Equality Index 2017

Results show that Lithuania’s Gender Equality Index score is below the EU-28 average, with room for improvement, especially in 
the domains of time and power. In order to reach full gender equality, a more targeted and holistic approach is needed.

100

s
e
r
o
c
S

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

1

56.8

66.2

EL

HU RO SK HR CZ CY

PT

EE

LT

PL

LV BG MT

IT

AT DE EU-28 ES

SI

LU IE

BE UK

FR NL

FI DK

SE

Gender Equality Index 2015

increase from 2005 to 2015

decrease from 2005 to 2015

The Gender Equality Index:

  monitors progress in gender equality across the EU and over time;
 
 
 
 
 

supports decision-makers in assessing how far Member States are from reaching gender equality;
shows the different outcomes of EU and national policies for women and men;
allows for meaningful gender analysis and comparison between different policy areas;
supports the development and implementation of gender equality policies and legislation;
increases  awareness  among  decision-makers  and  the  public  of  progress  and  challenges  in  implementing  gender  equality 
policies;

  highlights data gaps and calls for harmonised and comparable data that are sex disaggregated and available for all Member 

States.

Read more about the Gender Equality Index 2017

  Main report (2017)
  Main findings (2017)
  A snail’s pace towards gender equality: fact sheet (2017)
  Methodological report (2017)
  Measurement framework of violence against women (2017)
 

Intersecting inequalities (forthcoming)

Explore the Gender Equality Index and the full data for Lithuania at http://eige.europa.eu/gender-equality-index.

European Institute for Gender Equality

Contact details

The  European  Institute  for  Gender  Equality  (EIGE)  is  the  EU  knowledge  centre  on  gender 
equality.  EIGE  supports  policymakers  and  all  relevant  institutions  in  their  efforts  to  make 
equality between women and men a reality for all Europeans by providing them with specific 
expertise and comparable and reliable data on gender equality in Europe.

© European Institute for Gender Equality, 2018
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

http://eige.europa.eu/

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eige.sec@eige.europa.eu

+370 52157444

6

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Paper: MH-04-18-189-EN-C 978-92-9470-457-3 10.2839/32616
MH-04-18-189-EN-N 978-92-9470-455-9 10.2839/45083
PDF:

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LT-01103 Vilnius
LITHUANIA