News - 08.03.2026

On International Women's Day

Today is International Women’s Day, and it has a history of more than a hundred years. For decades, VR has been at the forefront of the fight for women’s rights in the labour market and is not letting up. Financial independence is a fundamental prerequisite for women’s liberation, and although significant progress has been made in reducing the gender pay gap, women still earn only about 80% of men’s total pay. Unequal sharing of family responsibilities plays a major role, and one of the biggest struggles of our time is therefore linked to the interplay between preschool provision and parental leave on the one hand, and labour market participation on the other. The gap between preschool provision and parental leave remains unbridged, and in recent months one municipality after another has made fundamental changes to preschool services that negatively affect working parents—especially mothers.

VR reiterates its demand that municipalities reverse course and urges the government to speed up measures to bridge the gap. A society of equality is simply a better society.

Happy International Women’s Day!