The average monthly parental benefit was €1,170 for women and €1,638 for men. The parental benefit gap was the lowest ever.

Anet Müürsoo, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said the share of men receiving parental benefit grew by nearly a tenth year on year, with a total of 7,423 men receiving parental benefit in 2020.

"The difference in the average amount of parental benefit paid to male and female recipients diminished last year, but the gap was still 28.6 percent. Paternity leave was used by 60 percent of the fathers who were entitled to it – this means a rise of nearly 2 percent compared to 2019," noted Müürsoo.

Men and women by occupation

Occupation-based sex segregation, which reflects the concentration of women and men in different occupations, shows that there would be an equal number of men and women in all occupations in Estonia, if 34 percent of men or women changed occupation. There would be an equal number of men and women in each economic activity if 36 percent of men or women switched to a different economic activity.

"There are more men employed in the economic activities of manufacturing, construction, and transportation and storage, for example, and more women employed in the activities of education and human health and social work activities. Among men, there are significantly more plant and machine operators, while among women there are more professionals and services workers, for example," added Müürsoo.

Last year, 11.8 percent of men and 7.2 percent women worked as managers. A little over 18,000 enterprises with Estonian shareholders were registered – 59.5 percent of these were founded by men and 27.3 percent by women. 6.9 percent of the enterprises were founded jointly by men and women. In the case of 6.3 percent of the enterprises, the sex of the founders could not be determined. 920 men and 791 women registered as sole proprietors.

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