ECONOMIC ACTIVITY OF CROATIAN FEMALE POPULATION

The subject of the article is the analysis of the economic activities trends of the Croatian female population during last 50 years. They are compared with situation in other European countries, especially transitional ones. Data from six censuses in Croatia, from
1953 till 2001, had been studied. It is noticeable that overall population, as well as female, became older and better educated. European researchers consider relationship between economic activity and marital status, or number of children and age of the youngest child very important, but they are available in the oldest census from 1953 only. This makes the picture of the female status and role in Croatian society incomplete, so the comparison with
the rest of Europe is only partially possible. Changes of the economic structure caused (among other reasons) by growing services
industry, attract female workforce to the activity. In this way the ratio between male and female participation in economic activity is changing in favor of female workforce – the trend noticed in developed countries. The most noticeable change is systematic decrease of number of women active in the agriculture, and primary sector in general, and increase of number of women active in different categories of tertiary sector, especially in commerce,
education and healthcare. Growing share of the female workforce, which at the moment slightly exceeds active male population, demands reexamination of the working conditions and special needs, and their coordination. By understanding social processes we can find
the way toward successful working women having higher quality of life and better overall social environment. Flexible work forms are one of the possible approaches to accomplish this goal.