Occupational segregation and gender wage gap in Pakistan: do occupational classifications matter?

This paper aims to quantify the relationship between occupational gender segregation and gender wage disparities in Pakistan. Non-parametric matching-based decomposition method and a detailed set of individual and labor market characteristics, especially the detailed occupations at a 3-digit level, are used to determine the gender wage gap for males and females in and out of the common support. The results show that even though the inclusion of a detailed set of human capital, labor market characteristics, and occupational segregation by gender helps in explaining most of the gender wage gap, a large proportion of the gender wage gap remained unexplained and can be attributed to gender discrimination. A comparison of rural and urban labor markets shows a high rate of the gender wage gap in rural areas compared to urban areas of the country.