The difference between male and female participation rates is currently around 10 percentage points in the European Union and in the United States; despite recent progress, the difference is twice as large in Italy. More flexible working hours and family-friendly workplace arrangements are two ways of 13  14  Basso, G., Peri, G. and Rathman, A.
(2017), ‘Computerization and immigration: theory and evidence from the United States’, NBER WP 23935. Aghion, P., Bergeaud, P., Blundell R. and Griffith, R. (2018), ‘The Innovation Premium to Low Skill Jobs’. 5  achieving more inclusive participation (and, incidentally, a more equitable distribution of household chores). In many European countries there is plenty of scope for further improvement, e.g.