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Gender employment gap, 2022
(i.imgur.com)
Large difference in employment rates between men and women!
If you compare the employment rates in EU regions, you will notice that the female employment rates still lag behind the male rates in most of the regions.
The EU has set a policy target in this area of halving the gender employment gap from 11.7% in 2019 to 5.8% by 2030.
The green regions shown here are those that have already attained the target.
Source: Eurostat
That could be a reason. One the other hand the cost of living is also higher, albeit not as proportionate and the generational wealth is much lower in the east. Usually a high or low GDP are also correlated with unemployment.
For the GDP i'd say it is difficult to gauge, whether it is a positive or negative factor on womens employment. For cultural and social infrastructure these effects are well documented.