The European Commission in 2018 estimated Luxembourg’s gender pay gap at 5.5%. “On an annual basis, this means that on average, compared to their male colleagues, women work free for 20 days of the year,” labour union OGBL said in a statement.

For women across the EU, the 16% pay gap means they have been working unpaid since 4 November.

The same report by the Commission also said that the overall earnings gap was at 32.5%. This statistic takes into account lower hourly earning but also women generally working fewer hours in paid jobs and a lower employment rate among women, for example, because of childcare.

“Many professions traditionally considered as being female are less well paid, such as for example cleaning, retail or hospitality,” the OGBL said. Low-paid jobs were on the other hand overrepresented on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic, the union said.

Around 30% of women work part-time compared to just 5% of men, the OGBL said, warning that the pay gap would eventually turn into a pension gap.

“In Luxembourg, women spend twice as many hours doing housework (16h/week on average) as men (8h/week on average),” the union said further. “This must change, as women suffer the consequences for the rest of their careers.”

Luxembourg this year hosted its first ever women’s strike, demanding recognition of unpaid care work and better conditions for women in low-paid jobs. Nearly one in five women work in minimum wage jobs. For men, this figure is significantly lower at around 13.5%.

A second edition of the strike will be organised to coincide with International Women’s Day on 8 March 2021.

The EU data cited by the OGBL appeared to be outdated, however, as the Commission in November this year said Luxembourg had a pay gap of just 1.4%, the lowest in the bloc.

It could bridge the difference in average gross hourly wages by 2022, but this would not resolve the overall earnings gap.