Eurofound logo
Online event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert - Key ingredients for the future of work: job quality and gender equality

Eurofound organised a live interactive webinar on ‘Key ingredients for the future of work: job quality and gender equality’ with a live Q&A on 22 March 2023. Senior research manager Agnès Parent-Thirion and research manager Jorge Cabrita explored the findings from the recently published European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), drawing from over 70,000 workers in 36 European countries. The video recording is available.

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert - Key ingredients for the future of work: job quality and gender equality
When?

Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Online
Online
Organised by
Eurofound

Event background

Eurofound organised a live interactive webinar on ‘Key ingredients for the future of work: job quality and gender equality’ with a live Q&A on Wednesday 22 March 2023.

The debate

Senior research manager Agnès Parent-Thirion and research manager Jorge Cabrita explored the findings from the recently published European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), drawing from over 70,000 workers in 36 European countries. It provides a wide-ranging picture of job quality across countries, occupations, sectors, gender and age groups in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey confirms persistent gender segregation in sectors, occupations and workplaces, indicating that we are a long way from the goals of equal opportunities for women and men at work and equal access to key decision-making positions in the workplace. In 2021, only one in five workers worked in a gender-balanced workplace, while just one-third of workers had a female boss. This calls for a redoubling of efforts to dismantle the stereotypes that limit women’s and men’s choices in work.

The evidence generated by the EWCTS illustrates the centrality of work and job quality in finding answers to a wide range of key policy challenges. It suggests that job quality must be mainstreamed in EU policies designed to address these challenges, and this will help to achieve a fair, just and sustainable transition and the goal that no one is left behind in the transition.

The findings suggest that job quality will play a critical role in addressing the demographic challenge, as it supports longer, healthier and better working lives together with an inclusive labour market.

Job quality will play a critical role in the EU’s transition to a carbon-neutral economy by ensuring that new jobs and roles support longer, healthier and better working lives. The findings show that new green jobs will potentially have better job quality. However, many existing jobs for which demand will increase in the green transition show poorer job quality, underlining the importance of also mainstreaming job quality in greening policies.

Moderated by Mary McCaughey, Eurofound’s Head of Information and Communication, the discussion digged into the findings from the EWCTS and addressed pressing questions, such as:

  • Why is understanding job quality important for improving working conditions for men and women?

  • Do women and men engage in paid work the same way? Why does unpaid work matter?

  • Do men and women have specific challenges in terms of job quality?

Watch the webinar

Speakers

Moderator: Mary McCaughey

Mary is Head of Information and Communication in Eurofound, where she has worked since 2003. A graduate in Business and Politics from Trinity College, Dublin and an ‘ancienne’ of the College of Europe, Bruges, she began her career in journalism in Brussels in 1990 with Europe Information Service and the Wall Street Journal Europe. She subsequently contributed to the WSJE and the Irish Times as a features writer before taking up the post of spokesperson with the Delegation of the European Commission to South Africa in 1998, heading up its press and information department. In 2001, she moved to Belgrade, Serbia, where she worked as a communications consultant for the European Agency for Reconstruction.
@MaryMcCaugheyEF 

Speaker: Agnès Parent-Thirion

Agnès is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, tasked with the planning, development and implementation of working conditions research projects, in particular the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and its analyses. She is responsible for the EWCTS 2021 extraordinary edition and for the preparation of the questionnaire for the EWCS 2024. Her research interests include working conditions, job quality, the monitoring of working conditions, work organisation, gender, the future of work and time. She has been working in the area of European comparative surveys for more than a decade, in all aspects including design, questionnaire development, fieldwork, quality control and analysis. She is involved in several statistical taskforces for the measurement of the 'Quality of employment'  (ILO-UNECE-EUROSTAT), the 'Quality of the working environment' (OECD), and the measure of psychosocial risks (the 'rapport Gollac'). She is a graduate in economics and management from Paris IX Dauphine and Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne universities, holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin and practices lifelong learning. Before joining Eurofound, she worked for a number of years in the European Commission.

Speaker: Jorge Cabrita

Jorge is a research manager in the Working Life unit. He is responsible for formulating, coordinating and managing European-wide research, and promoting the dissemination of findings in the areas of working conditions and industrial relations. His main research areas of interest include working conditions and job quality, working time and work–life balance, workers’ health and well-being, gender equality and the socioeconomic impacts of the transition to a climate-neutral economy. He is currently leading research on working conditions of the critical workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid workplaces, and working time developments in the EU. Previously, he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Studies for Social Intervention and at the Research Centre on the Portuguese Economy of the Lisbon School of Economics, and as a trainer and consultant in the areas of strategic management, organisational communication, leadership and team building. He holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Socio-Organisational Systems of Economic Activity from the Lisbon School of Economics.


Links

Agenda

Series: Ask The Expert webinars

Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - AskTheExpert: Beyond the data - Uncovering persistent inequalities in European working conditions

DateWednesday, 24 September 2025
Time15:00h‒16:00h (Irish local time)
LocationOnline
This event is in the past
Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - AskTheExpert: Are robots revolutionising work in Europe?

DateMonday, 25 November 2024
Time13:00h‒14:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - AskTheExpert: Facing the future - Exploring the key challenges for Europe in election year

DateFriday, 24 May 2024
Time10:00h‒11:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - AskTheExpert: State of play of social dialogue in Europe

DateWednesday, 13 December 2023
Time10:00h‒11:00h (Irish local time)
LocationDublin
This event is in the past
Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - #AskTheExpert: How to help workers struggling with inflation?

DateTuesday, 26 September 2023
Time10:00h‒11:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Online event
Own event

Watch the webinar - #AskTheExpert: Making telework work for everyone – lessons from the pandemic for a digital age

DateMonday, 5 December 2022
Time10:00h‒11:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Joint event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert: Reassessing gender inequalities in the labour market: impact of COVID-19 pandemic

DateTuesday, 8 March 2022
Time14:00h‒15:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Online event
Joint event

Watch the webinar - #AskTheExpert: Gender equality – It’s not all about pay

DateWednesday, 10 November 2021
Time14:00h‒15:00h (Irish local time)
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Own event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert: The rise of the telework generation – What impact for working conditions?

DateThursday, 3 June 2021
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Own event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert - EU citizens experience deep fatigue and frustration as pandemic enters second year - New survey findings from Living, working and COVID-19

DateTuesday, 18 May 2021
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Joint event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert - Addressing the social and employment impact of the pandemic - Living, working and COVID-19

DateThursday, 29 April 2021
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Own event

Watch the webinar: #AskTheExpert - Game-changing technologies - How will they impact Europe’s economy, work and employment?

DateTuesday, 20 April 2021
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Joint event

Watch the webinar - #AskTheExpert: the European Company Survey 2019 findings on skills

DateThursday, 29 October 2020
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Joint event

Watch the webinar - #AskTheExpert: the European Company Survey 2019 findings on employee involvement

DateTuesday, 20 October 2020
Location
This event is in the past
Other event
Own event

Webinar: #AskTheExpert - The impact of COVID-19 for people living and working in Europe: How can policymakers respond?

DateWednesday, 10 June 2020
Location
This event is in the past
Flag of the European UnionThis website is an official website of the European Union.
How do I know?
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies