A new Commissioner for Gender Equality takes office on October 4. Both the incoming and outgoing commissioner say Mari-Liis Sepper will have her work cut out for her.
"As a structural problem, the wage gap is a very big one," said outgoing official Margit Sarv on the ETV program Aeg Luubis. "As a whole, incomes are much smaller for women on the whole. That affects […] other income that is linked to pay, sick days or severance pay, child benefits, […] and pensions."
She said men are also favored for more prestigious positions.
That doesn't mean women are actively discriminated against on the job market, said new official Sepper, but, she said, "it stems from the fact that women and men work different jobs and unfortunately it has developed so that the women's jobs are less prestigious and lower-paid."
The financial sector, which offers high wages, is primarily a man's field, while women have lower-paid professions such as teacher or nurse.
Last week the European Union justice commissioner unveiled the gender equality strategy for the next five years, including an idea that seemed shocking to many in Estonia - establishing equal opportunity quotas. For the time being Brussels will not be establishing requirements but will try a voluntary approach instead, including discussions with larger employers.
On the other hand, some figures in Estonia may seem shocking to the rest of the EU, at least the more integrated Nordics: that although two-thirds of college graduates in Estonia are women, fewer than one in four parliament members is female - 23 out of 101.
Specific remedies exist for this problem: Sarv said that Estonia had an open list system at elections where voters could also express their preference for individual candidates as well as a party's list.
On the subject of her term as commissioner, Sepper said she wants to change society's attitudes, one step at a time, although, she said, the lack of proper authority to do anything is a problem.
Tallinn University faculty member and gender equality consultant Barbi Pilvre also criticized Estonia for paying "lip service" to the requirement that Estonia establish a commissioner for gender equality upon accession to the EU.