Gender Disparities in the Romanian Society

The lower status of women is universal [9]. According to Baunach [3], “no society has been found to date where women habitually dominate men; nevertheless, there is variation in the character and degree of gender inequality across different societies… but even in culturally egalitarian societies, ‘male dominance’ and ‘sexual antagonism’ can be found” (p. 61). Unfortunately, in most parts of the world women are still not “equal” to men in their rights and duties, nor in their achievable aspirations concerning their education, career, and family roles. Consequently, the research community should make efforts to document and analyze the phenomenon of gender inequality, with the goal of developing adequate programs and implementing social politics to reduce the gender gap. This study aims to compare and contrast the existing data referring to the social characteristics of the two sexes in Romania. The goal is to provide a more clear image of the analogous situation of Romanian men and women in a variety of socio-economical instances, such as the demographic phenomena, life expectancy, health, education, the labor market, income, and internet usage. The data presented in this study is representative at a national level in Romania and is the result of surveys created by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS).