Glass Ceiling or Slippery Floors? Understanding Gender Differences in the Spanish Worker’s Compensation System

The main goal of this paper is to analyse gender differences in the Spanish workplace accident insurance or worker’s compensation (WC) system. More specifically, we are interested in understanding the differences between female and male employees in the duration of the recovery spell after a workplace accident. This will provide us with a better comprehension of the distinct opportunistic behaviour carried by men and women causing absenteeism. Our results show that women who are occupied in low-responsibility jobs experience unjustified longer periods of recovery than men. But, as the occupational ladder is climbed this pattern tends to disappear and, what is more striking, on top of the ladder women are found to be more job-committed than men. Besides, business cycle seems to have a greater effect on women than men.