Rédaction Africa Links 24 with alm
Published on 2024-03-11 09:25:18
Inequalities between men and women remain significant, as revealed by the latest figures from the High Commission for Planning on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The details.
The median salary is estimated at 3,400 DH for men, compared to 2,800 DH for women, representing a 20% gap in favor of men, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP). “In 2019, the average monthly salary amounts to 3,800 DH per employee nationally, with a notable difference between urban and rural areas, where it stands at 4,500 DH and 2,200 DH respectively. On average, men earn a monthly salary of 3,900 DH, compared to 3,700 DH for women,” specifies the HCP in an information note published on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day celebrated under the theme “Investing in women: accelerating pace.” Compared to the urban salaried population aged 18 to 60, the average salary for men is 4,900 DH, representing a 23% increase compared to the average salary for women, set at 3,900 DH, according to the same source.
By age group, the average salary gap follows an inverted U-shaped trend, with a period where women aged 18 to 29 earn an average salary 10% higher than their male counterparts. However, beyond this age group, the wage gap widens, showing a disadvantage for women. It reaches its most pronounced level, with a gap of 41.4%, among employees aged 30 to 44. Despite a narrowing of this gap for employees aged 45 to 60, it still persists in favor of men and remains at high levels, approaching the overall average wage gap, regardless of age group. Assessed by educational level, the wage gap in favor of men reaches its highest level (42.4%) among employees without any schooling. However, this gap narrows to 30% among employees who have completed compulsory education and is set at 37% among those who have attained a higher level of education, indicates the HCP, noting that the extent of the wage gap among the latter mainly stems from the gender wage gaps in the private sector, which amount to 82%, compared to 13% in the public sector. In other words, wage labor in the private sector contributes 79% to the wage gap between men and women with higher education.
Labor market
Furthermore, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) reveals, on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day, that the proportion of women in the urban salaried population aged 18 to 60 is 32.2%, remaining below that of men, which stands at 67.8%. “In 2019, the proportion of women in the urban salaried population aged 18 to 60 is 32.2%, remaining below that of men, which stands at 67.8%. This gap results in a parity index of 2.1. In other words, out of thirty-one employees, ten are women and twenty-one are men,” indicates the HCP in an information note published on this day celebrated under the theme “Investing in women: accelerating pace.” In order to promote gender equality, especially the economic empowerment of women, the statistical notion of parity aims to assess to what extent both sexes are equally represented in the labor market, explains the same source, specifying that the parity index, also known as the “male advantage” index, is used to evaluate this representation in terms of feminization rates, which corresponds to the ratio between the number of male employees and female employees. The HCP also points out that this parity in the labor market fluctuates significantly with age, from 1.8 for the 18-29 age group to 2.4 for the 30-44 age group, and remains at 2.1 for the 45-60 age group. “The underrepresentation of women among employees reflects their low participation in the labor force. Not only is the women’s labor force participation rate significantly lower than that of men, but it continues to decline over the years, dropping from 30.4% in 1999 to 21.5% in 2019,” it notes. Furthermore, long-term unemployment, twelve months or more, affects female unemployed individuals more than their male counterparts, with respective proportions of 76.3% and 63.8%, due to factors such as the decrease in job opportunities and the resulting increase in urban unemployment. In terms of human capital endowment, the level of education of employees remains limited, with over half of them (56.7%) having no schooling or not completing secondary education. Men, with a proportion of 59.2%, outnumber women (51.5%) in this category of employees. This relatively low level of qualification is explained, in part, by generational effects and the difficulties faced by young graduates in entering the workforce.
In this context, with an average of 11 years of education, female employees aged 18 to 29 are better equipped in terms of educational capital than men in the same age group, who have an average of 9.5 years of education. However, this cognitive advantage of young women tends to diminish over the generations, marked by a slight male advantage in terms of education. This trend is also supported by the median length of studies. On the other hand, in terms of professional experience length, the gender difference shows a clear advantage for men and increases with age. At the beginning of their careers, this difference averages 0.4 years among employees aged 18 to 29, then increases to 2 years among those in the 30-40 age group, and finally settles at 2.5 years among employees aged 45 to 60.
Read the original article(French) on Aujourdhui.ma
