Gender earnings discrimination in Jordan: Good intentions are not enough

Abstract

Jordan has long been a party to the main international instruments prohibiting discrimination against women, yet it still displays a significant gender pay gap. Using data from the 2002, 2006 and 2008 Household Expenditure and Income Surveys for decomposition analysis, while also accounting for the labour force participation decisions of women and men, the author finds that the pay gap is entirely explained by gender differentials in his estimated coefficients. The gap is initiated upon recruitment into wage employment through “screening discrimination”, though it tends to narrow over time. Women's selectively low participation also contributes to a statistical improvement in their relative earnings.

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“…The interventions described by our interviewees are also designed to help women earn an income without leaving their homes, thereby reinforcing rather than challenging the unequal familial and social positions of men and women. Such an approach meshes well with existing cultural and religious traditions in Jordan that still firmly place women within the home as domestic caregivers (Alfarhan 2015). Many of the CSOs interviewed in this study tailored their programs to encourage women to integrate into the productive economy through entrepreneurial home-based businesses, so as not to interfere with their current position and role within the family.…”

Clusters of the Czech Regions and 31 Chosen European Countries According to the Wage Level, Wage Models and Gender Gap by the Czech Regions

“…For example, Alfarhan (2015) analyses the difference in remuneration between men and women in Jordan, based on data from the years 2002, 2006 and 2008 concerning the expenditures and incomes of households. Bárány (2016) demonstrates the relationship between the development of the minimum wage and wage inequality.…”