Context: Belarus has declared 2026 the Year of the Belarusian Woman. The decree states that the decision aims to “shape a national image of the woman as a worker” and “promote the role of women in the preservation and development of society.”
Discussing the Year of the Belarusian Woman on the “Aktualny Mikrafon” program on the First National Channel of Belarusian Radio on January 8, 2026, Volha Shpileuskaya, head of the Belarusian Union of Women, claimed that gender pay equity has already been achieved in Belarus and that everyone is paid according to their level of competence. She also said that while women have every opportunity to realize their potential, they often choose to focus on their families and children — and should be encouraged to do so even more.
On the air, Shpileuskaya emphasized that, in her view, nothing prevents women from holding leadership positions, but she then linked the topic of managerial work to women’s roles within the family:
“If she wants to lead a company, no one is ever going to throw a wrench in the works. The only thing is, as you hear the head of state say, we should take it easier on women in this regard. Not every woman can work as a company head today. Because, of course, a woman’s primary task is family, children, and husbands.”
To some extent, Shpileuskaya’s claim that pay is based on competence is supported by statistics: when comparing men and women with similar education, experience, and roles within the same field, the wage gap is minimal. At the same time, data shows that women are underrepresented in the upper echelons of management. For the past two decades, women have held nearly half of all senior and middle management positions in Belarus, yet they remain scarce in the executive elite. For instance, the proportion of women leading government agencies reporting to the Council of Ministers has hovered between 3% and 7% and shows no sign of increasing.
Meanwhile, the national gender pay gap between men and women continues to widen, regardless of differences in competence or education levels. On average, men in the country earn 25% more than women. By comparison, the widest gap in the EU is 19% in Latvia. However, the trend in the European Union is the opposite, with the gap narrowing every year.
This reflects the distribution of men and women across sectors and roles: women are traditionally more likely to be employed in lower-paying industries and positions, while men more often end up in the seats of greater power and money.
According to Belstat’s gender statistics, having children can negatively affect women’s careers and earnings: the income gap between men and women begins to widen around age 25 and only starts to narrow closer to age 50. The data also shows that the gap is growing even among workers with higher education: over the past decade, it has increased from approximately 20% to 30%, with the trend most pronounced in senior and middle management roles.
Women are also losing ground in the trade sector: while wages in this field used to favor them, the situation has shifted over the last ten years, and the gap has swung in favor of men. At the same time, the gap is narrowing in certain specific professions and industries. Belstat’s gender statistics note that the pay gap between men and women has narrowed in certain roles, such as construction and industrial workers, machinery operators. In agriculture, women have actually pulled ahead in several cases.
Thus, while men and women may indeed receive nearly equal pay in comparable positions and conditions, women across the country are increasingly falling behind men in overall wages. Meanwhile, the trend in European countries is the opposite: there, the gender gap is narrowing over time.
