Inter-industry Gender Wage Differentials In Kenya
Abstract
In developed countries, the gap between male and female pay has been reducing significantly due
to legislations and regulations making it more equalised in certain professions. However, globally,
the gap is widening, and even where the gap is reducing, it is very slow. Using the World
Bank's (2013) Skills Towards Employability and Productivity Survey (2013), this study seeks to
study inter-industry gender wage gaps in Kenya by adopting the (Fields & Wolff, 1995) and
(Horrace & Oaxaca, 2001) to capture inter-industry male-female pay variations. The results of the
inter-industry gender pay differences reveal that even after accounting for personal characteristics,
gender pay differences across the industries (except in the agriculture, fishery, and mining sector)
women still receive less pay than men. In the commerce and trade sector, men’s wages were 27.2%
higher than that of women and based on counterfactual analysis their earnings would increase by
17.5% if women’s had the same characteristics as men. In the services sector men earned 28.5%
higher than women and that women’s wages would increase by 22.0% if women’s had the same
characteristics as men. In the manufacturing and construction sector, men earned 23.1% more than
women and based on counterfactual analysis their earnings would increase by 18.4% if they had
the same characteristics as men. Admittedly, we find evidence of gender penalty in Kenya’s labour
market as there exists inter-industry gender wage differentials explained less by the observable
characteristics; age, marital status, experience, tenure, education, profession, and sector of
employment.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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