A Decomposition of Male-Female Earnings Differentials (Human RESOURCE Development) (Report‪)‬

Gender discrimination is not new but awareness of the issue involved and the importance of the efforts to reduce it have gained momentum in recent years. This study deals with the issue of gender discrimination in the Pakistani labour market. This form of gender discrimination not only leads to differential access to jobs, it also creates earnings differentials between working males and females. The study, based on Oaxaca's methodology and the Household Integrated Expenditure Survey--1993-94 data, suggests that differentials in personal characteristics, like education, experience, and others, account for less than 50 percent of the earnings differential between males and females. Thus, we can say that focussed efforts are needed to reduce gender discrimination in the labour market and to increase effective and productive involvement of the entire population in economic growth of the country. 1. INTRODUCTION