Proposal: Advancing Labour Market Accessibility in the Mediterranean
Proposed Implementation: 2026 to 2029
Call: HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TWO-STAGE – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society – 2025 – Two-stage
Topic: HORIZON-CL2-2025-02-TRANSFO-04-two-stage
Type of Action: HORIZON-RIA – HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Proposed Budget: 3 200 000,00
Keywords: Gender in economics, Social economics, Women and gender studies, key gender drivers, labour market, parenthood, work-life balance, career opportunities, discrimination, capacity building actions, SMEs, key drivers, family well-being, qualitative research, EEN, SDG5
Objective: The ambition of the project is to provide evidence-based data, through a scientific and comparative in-depth study identifying key gender drivers on career outcomes among parents, analyzing how parenthood affects job opportunities, career growth and well-being and observing how these dynamics vary across countries and social groups, equipping policymakers at local, national, and EU levels with actionable insights and policy recommendations and practical tools.
Persistent gender inequalities in the labour market will be investigated in Mediterranean regions within specific target countries of the project, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Turkey and Cyprus, where domestic welfare models, cultural norms and labour market segmentation reinforce gender gaps. The impact of gender asymmetries on relational and psychological well-being in the private and family sphere will also be analysed.
The project adopts a multi-level approach: the analysis of existing EU data sources and national datasets, followed by a cross-country survey targeting working parents, a qualitative research phase showcasing case studies and capacity-building schemes addressed to SMEs.
Recent EU data show that the EU had 32.3 million enterprises, employing 160 million persons: micro and small enterprises account for 99%, employing 77.5 million persons, i.e. almost half of the total number of all employed. The EEN Network partners involved in the project have the unique position to reach these actors, whose voice cannot be ignored.
The project aligns with the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-25 and contributes to SDG5 and the European Pillar of Social Rights by promoting equal opportunities, work-life balance, and family well-being across Europe.
Partners:
- Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Unione Per la Difesa dei Consumatori APS
- Federazione Trentina Della Cooperazione SC
- The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise AMT
- Csi Center for Social Innovation Ltd
- Passport 2 Employability International Foundation
- INESC TEC – Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Comunicação
- Federación de Cooperativas y de la Economía Social
- EGE University