Estonian gender pay gap hits 40 percent

TALLINN - According to an annualreport on sexual equality produced by the International Economic Forum,the salary of Estonian women is only 60 percent of the salary receivedby Estonian men with the same job.

Estonia was ranked 98th out of 134countries in terms of salary inequalities.

Estonia placed 37th inthe general sexual equality rating - the same position it received last year, and seven places down from its 2007 ranking. In 2006 it was ranked number 28.

Gender equality wasevaluated using 14 different indicators. Iceland, Finland, Norwayand Sweden earned the top four places in the report.

The head of theSocial Affairs Ministry's Gender Equality Department, Kadi Viik, said that according to Eurostat datathe gap between the average salary of a male and an average salary ofa female in Estonia is the largest in the European Union.