WOMEN IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Women in the Public Sector

Women in the Public Sector

The project's report underlines the fact that no single cause can explain why the pay gap persists between women and men. However, the comparative report identifies two main sources from which the gender pay gap arises: first of all, the segregation of men and women across occupations, firms and positions; and second, wage differences that consistently favor male-dominated jobs. The study, however, finds no evidence to suggest that unequal pay among males and females in the same positions and in the same enterprise contributes to any significant degree to the gender pay gap. Nor can it be sufficiently explained by variations across countries in legal and organizational arrangements such as anti-discrimination legislation and public supervisory and monitoring bodies.

In the light of these two main sources of the gender pay gap, the project report identifies a number of mechanisms that may be seen to affect wage differences between women and men. Female labor market participation is one such mechanism. A high rate of female labor market participation tends to increase the gender wage gap, because the additional participants are made up mainly of women with a traditionally low labor market 'attachment' (education and work experience). Labor market segregation - i.e. differences in the types of jobs performed by women and men is also high when female participation is high. The unequal distribution of women and men in different sectors, branches and occupations has a direct bearing on the gender wage gap. Are policies to increase female labor market participation thus detrimental to closing the wage gap? The answer in the report is that such policies will in the long term, if combined with policies that encourage 'family-friendly' working arrangements, increase the proportion of women willing to invest in labor market-related ...