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Are There Glass-Ceiling and Sticky-Floor Effects in India? An Empirical Examination

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  • Tushar Agrawal

Abstract

In this paper, the gender-related wage differentials in the rural and urban sectors of the Indian economy are analysed. The hypotheses that there is a glass-ceiling effect--a greater wage gap at the top end of the wage-distribution range--and a sticky-floor effect--a wider wage gap at the bottom are examined. Findings show evidence of the glass-ceiling effect in the rural sector and evidence of the sticky-floor effect in the urban sector. Using a counterfactual decomposition method, the raw wage gap is decomposed to identify the contributions of characteristics and coefficients. The results reveal the presence of labour--market discrimination against women. Furthermore, women at the lower end of the wage-distribution spectrum face more discrimination than those at the higher end of the range.

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  • Tushar Agrawal, 2013. "Are There Glass-Ceiling and Sticky-Floor Effects in India? An Empirical Examination," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 322-342, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:41:y:2013:i:3:p:322-342
    DOI: 10.1080/13600818.2013.804499
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    2. Avinno Faruk, 2021. "Analysing the glass ceiling and sticky floor effects in Bangladesh: evidence, extent and elements," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(9), pages 1-23, September.
    3. Ebenezer Lemven Wirba & Fiennasah Annif' Akem & Francis Menjo Baye, 2021. "Scrutinizing the sticky floor/glass ceiling phenomena in the informal labour market in Cameroon: An unconditional quantile regression analysis," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-13, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Mustafizur Rahman & Md. Al-Hasan, 2021. "Explaining Pro-Women Gender Wage Gap in Bangladesh," CPD Report 19, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    5. Mustafizur Rahman & Md. Al-Hasan, 2022. "The Reverse Gender Wage Gap in Bangladesh: Demystifying the Counterintuitive," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(4), pages 929-950, December.
    6. Mohanty, Smrutirekha, 2021. "A distributional analysis of the gender wage gap among technical degree and diploma holders in urban India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. T T Nguyen-Huu, 2023. "Wage inequality associated with job status: Evidence from Indonesia and the Philippines," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 28(1), pages 57-79, March.
    8. Rammohan, Anu & Goli, Srinivas & Reddy, Bheemeshwar, 2017. "Occupational Segregation by Caste and Gender in India," MPRA Paper 101969, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Garbay, Sergio & Barrera, Raquel, 2021. "¿Mujeres en suelos pegajosos? Un análisis de la evolución de las distribuciones de ingresos laborales en Bolivia en el periodo 2011-2019," Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Economico, Carrera de Economía de la Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) "San Pablo", issue 36, pages 123-168, Noviembre.

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