Gender inequality in the labor market: A comparative analysis of wage gaps and job quality in Argentina, Spain, Germany, and Poland

Abstract

Ponencia presentada en la 12th International Conference “Information Society and Sustainable Development” (ISSD 2025) - • Structural inequalities persist in labour markets, especially in terms of gender. • These gaps are not only due to differences in training or experience, but also to gender hierarchies that structure access to, retention of, and quality of employment. • Fecundability, understood as a sociostructural category, operates as a mechanism of anticipatory discrimination against women of reproductive age. • This "social marker" implies a symbolic and material penalty in the labour market. • Income gaps reflect this segmentation, with female overrepresentation in informal, precarious, or part-time jobs.