indeed existing gaps in labour market outcomes of prime age and older workers continue to be influenced by education and career decisions that they made to years ago when societal norms and career expectations were different further policy action is needed immediately to ensure that girls and young women s gains translate into gender equality throughout the life cycle gender gaps often emerge around the time of parenthood when more traditional gender norms around work and life take hold in families even if socioeconomic outcomes have changed slowly on the ground countries have made good progress in some policy areas in the past halfdecade particularly in paternity and parental leave reducing the gender wage gap addressing violence against women and promoting women in leadership over half of oecd countries now offer paid paternity leave for at least a few days around childbirth and more and more are reserving a parental leave period that only fathers can use chapter