My Spanish friends turn green with envy when I tell them that both my Dutch cousin and her husband cut their hours at work after the birth of their daughter. There’s more to their envy than the fact that a Dutch couple can afford to work a day less because of the level of wages in the Netherlands.

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The fact that Dutch companies take the initiative to organise part-time work is seen as something special in Spain. Another source of Spanish envy is that workers who put in fewer hours at the office in the Netherlands are not automatically taken less seriously.

Juggling
Part-time jobs do exist in Spain, but they mainly involve unskilled work. On average, one in five women work part-time, a far higher proportion than among men.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero claims to be a keen advocate of promoting part-time work. He had proposed introducing two types of part-time contracts, following a German model: one with fixed hours to make it easier for an employee to juggle work and family life, and one with flexible hours to enable employers to better organise their production processes.

But new measures to boost part-time employment are still not forthcoming. A lack of part-time jobs, in combination with deep-seated traditions, ensures that 15 percent of Spanish women leave the labour market when they have children.

Few female bosses
Women who do forge ahead with their career discover that two out of five senior management positions in Spain are occupied by women. Other figures show that it is far easier for men than women to reach senior management level.

On average, Spanish women earn 26 percent less than men. In other words, they have to work fourteen months for the same money that men earn in a year.