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The Gender Wage Gap in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Re-examination

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  • Haroon Bhorat
  • Sumayya Goga

Abstract

We analyse the gender wage gap for Africans in post-apartheid South Africa and, using the recentred influence function (RIF), decompose the changes in the wage gap along the distribution into explained and unexplained contributions related to various factors. Using the latest nationally representative household survey—the 2007 Labour Force Survey—from which wage data are available, we find the following: first, the gender wage gap is higher at the bottom of the wage distribution than at the top; second, the constant or ‘pure discrimination’ accounts for the majority of the gap between the 20 and 50th quantiles; third, negative or favourable unexplained contributions related to a positive policy shock for domestic workers at the 20 and 30th quantiles and formal sector employment both served to narrow the gap between the 20 and 50th quantiles; finally, between the 70 and 90th quantiles, large and positive unexplained contributions associated mainly with degree holders, wage-employed workers and public sector and managerial workers (at the 90th quantile) were tempered by both endowment effects in favour of women and negative unexplained contributions. The favourable endowment effects arise mainly from workers with higher education, professional workers, public sector workers and workers in the formal sector (at the 90th quantile), while negative unexplained contributions were mainly related to the constant or ‘pure favourable discrimination’. Copyright 2013 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Haroon Bhorat & Sumayya Goga, 2013. "The Gender Wage Gap in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Re-examination," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(5), pages 827-848, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:22:y:2013:i:5:p:827-848
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Olivier Bargain & Prudence Kwenda & Miracle Ntuli, 2017. "Gender bias and the intrahousehold distribution of resources: Evidence from African nuclear households in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 071, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Carlos Gradín, 2021. "Occupational Gender Segregation in Post-Apartheid South Africa," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 102-133, July.
    3. Olivier Bargain & Prudence Kwenda & Miracle Ntuli, 2017. "Gender bias and the intrahousehold distribution of resources: Evidence from African nuclear households in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-71, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Emmanuel Adu Boahen & Paul Adjei Kwakwa & Justice Boateng Dankwah, 2022. "Does gender make a difference in the performance of a small business enterprise? Evidence from a household survey data from Ghana," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(9), pages 1-26, September.
    5. Danquah, Michael & Iddrisu, Abdul Malik & Boakye, Ernest Owusu & Owusu, Solomon, 2021. "Do gender wage differences within households influence women's empowerment and welfare? Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 916-932.
    6. Sue Ledwith & Janet Munakamwe, 2015. "Gender, union leadership and collective bargaining: Brazil and South Africa," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 411-429, September.
    7. Margherita Scarlato & Giorgio d'Agostino, 2019. "Cash Transfers, Labor Supply, and Gender Inequality: Evidence from South Africa," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 159-184, October.
    8. Haroon Bhorat & Safia Khan, 2018. "Structural Change and Patterns of Inequality in the South African Labour Market," Working Papers 201801, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    9. Jacqueline Mosomi, 2019. "Distributional changes in the gender wage gap in the post-apartheid South African labour market," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-17, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Melaku Abegaz & Gibson Nene, 2018. "Gender Wage and Productivity Gaps in the Manufacturing Industry. The Case of Ghana," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(3), pages 313-326, September.
    11. Sirisha C. Naidu & Lyn Ossome, 2018. "Work, Gender, and Immiseration in South Africa and India," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(2), pages 332-348, June.
    12. Bedaso, Fenet Jima, 2024. "Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap: Evidence from Ethiopia," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1393, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Koral Zeynep Aktaş & Mercan Murat Anıl, 2021. "Assessing the gender wage gap: Turkey in the years 2002–2019," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 90-112, March.
    14. Kwadwo Opoku & Emmanuel Adu Boahen, 2023. "Gender wage gaps in Ghana: a comparison across different selection models," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(7), pages 1-33, July.
    15. Carlos Gradín, 2018. "Occupational gender segregation in post-apartheid South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 53, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Vusi Gumede, 2021. "Revisiting Poverty, Human Development and Inequality in Democratic South Africa," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 15(2), pages 183-199, August.
    17. Sung‐Bou Kim, 2020. "Gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 176-187, June.
    18. Robert Hill & Tim Köhler, 2021. "Mind the gap: The distributional effects of South Africa’s national lockdown on gender wage inequality," Working Papers 202101, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.

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