London, March 5 (IANS): Debunking the theory that women voluntarily opt for less paying jobs to manage responsibilities at home, a study finds women's jobs are less flexible, more stressful and offer fewer promotion opportunities than men's.

As the world unites for equal job opportunities for women, the findings show that women still lag behind men on most dimensions of job quality.

"This result runs counter to the expectation that women's occupations compensate for their low wages and limited opportunities for promotion by providing better employment conditions,” said professor Haya Stier of the Tel Aviv University, Israel.

The research does not support the claim that women enjoy a more relaxed and convenient work environment to compensate for their lack of achievement, added professor Meir Yaish from the University of Haifa in Israel.

They analysed survey data on the working lives of 8,500 men and 9,000 women in 27 industrialised countries, including Britain.

"Women enjoy hardly any advantage over men in the labour market. Women lag behind men on most employment dimensions - their jobs offer lower salaries and fewer opportunities for advancement, but also lower job security, worse job content, less time autonomy and worse emotional conditions,” Stier said.

The study was published in the journal Work, Employment and Society.