Gender discrimination at work continues in Belgium, study shows

Slightly more than one in three women in Belgium (37%) say they feel discriminated against in the workplace, report De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad and Le Soir, based on a study by Amazone, the Belgian resource centre for various actors in the field of gender equality.

For the so-called Emancipation Barometer, the centre surveyed 1,092 Belgians and found that one in three women is convinced that her being a woman has a negative impact on her career, and that women continue to suffer discrimination in the labour market. And not only women are aware of the problem, the study reveals, as one in three men share the belief that equal employment opportunities for both genders is not yet a reality.

According to specialists in various newspapers, it is no longer legislation that is getting in the way of true gender equality in Belgium, but people's mentality. This notion that women are less committed to their jobs than men still pervades the workplace, and few women take the legal steps necessary to combat discrimination when it occurs.

"The results dispel the notion that feminism is becoming obsolete," says Amazone director Marleen Teugels.