Gender wage gap
Also called: Gender pay gap · Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The gender wage gap (also called the gender pay gap) is the difference between the average earnings of men and women. It shows that women are paid less even when they work. It has three main causes:
- discrimination, where women are paid less for similar work;
- occupational segregation, where women are crowded into certain low-paid jobs;
- care burdens, which limit women's hours and career choices.
Example
PLFS data for India show that women earn less than men in both regular salaried jobs and casual wage work. For example, a woman construction helper often gets a lower daily wage than a man at the same site. ILO evidence confirms such gaps.
Don't confuse with
- Glass ceiling: this is about women being blocked from reaching top posts. The wage gap is about pay differences, which exist at every level, including casual labour.
Related concepts
- Female labour force participation rate
- U-shaped female labour force participation
- Unpaid work of women
- Unpaid care work
- Care work
- Double burden
- Feminisation of agriculture
- Glass ceiling