Bulgaria has made progress in closing gender gaps in some areas but still lags behind the EU average in overall gender equality. Key findings are:
Overall Gender Equality:
- Bulgaria's Gender Equality Index (GDI) score is 64.5 out of 100, ranking 11th lowest among EU-27 countries and below the EU average.
- The country ranks 17th in the EU, with a decrease of 0.6 points compared to 2021, primarily due to a decline in the power domain.
- Bulgaria performs well in power, work, and time dimensions but poorly in money and health dimensions, significantly lagging behind the European average.
Human Endowments:
- Bulgarian girls outperform boys in human capital, with a 63% productivity level compared to boys' 60%.
- However, both boys and girls have among the lowest Human Capital Index (HCI) measures in the EU and ECA region.
- Girls have better learning outcomes than boys, reflected in harmonized test scores.
- Preprimary enrollment rates have slightly increased for girls but remain below EU averages.
- Primary and secondary enrollment rates have decreased and are lower than the EU average.
- Tertiary enrollment rates show reverse gender gaps, with girls surpassing boys in enrollment.
- Women dominate fields like education, humanities, and social sciences, while men are more represented in natural sciences and ICT.
- Digital skills are similar between genders, but both lag behind EU counterparts.
Health:
- Women in Bulgaria live longer than men and have similar health access and outcomes, but tend to rate their health worse.
- Adolescent birth rates are significantly higher than the EU average.
- Maternal death risk is negligible and among the lowest worldwide.
- COVID-19 pandemic's excess mortality was higher for men than women, and also higher than the EU average for both sexes.
Economic Opportunity:
- Labor force participation rates for both genders have increased, but the gender gap widened from 2012 to 2020 and narrowed recently.
- Women experience lower unemployment rates than men and better employment prospects than their ECA and EU counterparts.
- Women spend more time on unpaid care work, creating a "double burden," with only 21.2% of children under three having access to formal childcare.
- The gender pay gap is 13.5%, with larger gaps in certain sectors and age groups.
- Women are more concentrated in service-based industries, while men work more in construction and transportation.
- Vertical segregation is pronounced, with fewer women in board and executive positions.
- Women have a relatively high share of senior and middle management positions and in firms with top female managers.
- Women have high financial inclusion rates, similar to men.
Poverty:
- Female poverty rates have been slightly higher than male and overall poverty rates, but reversed in 2022-2023.
- Chronic poverty rates remain significantly higher for women than men.
- Households with sole female earners and those without earners have experienced the largest reductions in poverty.
- Persistent vulnerability remains for households without earners, single-earner households with children, and dual-earner households with older dependents and young children.
- Gender disparities are particularly pronounced among vulnerable household types, with female single-earner households facing higher poverty risks.
Voice and Agency:
- One-fourth of women in Bulgaria experience violence in their lifetime, with a mid-range prevalence of intimate partner violence compared to European counterparts.
- Women face discrimination in social institutions, with Bulgaria having a relatively low level of gender discrimination compared to the global rate but higher than most European countries.
- Only 21% of seats in the National Assembly are held by women, and women are underrepresented in ministerial-level positions.
- Discriminatory gender beliefs persist, with a significant portion believing men make better political leaders.
- Bulgaria has no gender quota system in the National Assembly.
Multidimensional Vulnerabilities:
- Roma women face multiple dimensions of vulnerability, including lower income levels, education rates, and social inclusion.
- They experience worse outcomes than Roma men in all dimensions, with extremely high NEET rates and vulnerability to violence and abuse.
- Limited access to social justice and high rates of child and forced marriage are additional concerns.
Legal and Institutional Framework:
- Bulgaria has a National Strategy for Promoting Gender Equality and annual national plans to operationalize it.
- The country has implemented important legislation targeting gender equality, including the Law on Equality between Women and Men.
- Bulgaria has not yet ratified the Istanbul Convention, with a constitutional court decision ruling it incompatible with the constitution.
- The country has implemented a new legal framework addressing domestic violence with reforms to enhance victim protection and preventivemeasures.
- Bulgaria's maternity leave is notably generous, offering one of the longest periods of full-pay leave compared to other OECD and EU countries.
- Paternity leave is shorter than maternity leave but recently became more generous with an expanded entitlement and the right to flexible work arrangements.
- The Women, Business, and Law (WBL) Index score indicates that Bulgarian women have about four-fifths of the legal rights of men, with lower scores in safety, childcare, and entrepreneurship dimensions.
- The WBL 2.0 Supportive Frameworks Index shows a moderate lag in implementing women's legal rights effectively, particularly in the safety area.
