Abstract
This paper analyses systemic differences between average wages of women and men (raw or unadjusted gender pay gap) in the six Western Balkans countries. The findings in this paper suggest that in these countries, during 2015–2019, women earned, on average, up to 16% less than men. The reason behind such a considerable gender pay gap could be in shared history, i.e. shared political and economic culture in the Western Balkans, rooted gender segregation, and discrimination against women. The findings in this paper also suggest that such a gender pay gap might have adverse economic consequences, such as a decrease in employment rate and economic activity and, consequently, a significant decrease in GDP per capita. Based on these findings, several policy proposals are put forward aiming to reduce the current gender pay gap and mitigate the adverse economic consequences.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
Petreski and Mojsoska Blazevski (2015).
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
That is also one of the findings in the FREN - Foundation for the Advancement of Economics (2020).
- 9.
- 10.
INSTAT (2020).
- 11.
These earnings are calculated based on the enterprises’ payrolls declared to the General Directorate of Taxation for contributions on social security, health, and tax on income from employment (INSTAT 2020).
- 12.
EU Commission (2021).
- 13.
INSTAT (2020).
- 14.
This paper primarily relies on CBS’s data due to the similar data collecting and processing methods compared to the other national statistics authorities in the Western Balkans.
- 15.
CBS (2016).
- 16.
EU Commission (2021).
- 17.
CBS (2020).
- 18.
CBS (2017–2021).
- 19.
RZS (2020).
- 20.
RZS (2020).
- 21.
It should be noted that the gender pay gap in the EU member states and Serbia are not compatible due to the different methods of collecting data and calculating by Eurostat in the EU and RZS in Serbia. Namely, the EU calculates the adjusted gender pay gap that includes data on employees’ personal characteristics and working hours, i.e. data not collected or provided in Serbia and the majority of other countries in the region.
- 22.
WB (2015).
- 23.
The same report states that the gender pay gap is largely explained by unobserved factors, indicating that the main source of the gender pay gap in BiH could be discrimination.
- 24.
RCC (2021).
- 25.
WB (2015).
- 26.
Petreski and Mojsoska Blazevski (2015).
- 27.
Grimshaw and Rubery (2015).
- 28.
Nikoloski (2019).
- 29.
Also, the FREN Policy Brief (2020), based on the data from 2008 to 2010, estimates that the adjusted gender pay gap in North Macedonia is 17.9%, which is similar to the cited most recent findings.
- 30.
WEF (2021).
- 31.
FREN Report (2020).
- 32.
ILO (2019).
- 33.
The Government of Montenegro (2017).
- 34.
Jacobsen (2007).
- 35.
Jorgić (2018), pp. 4–5.
- 36.
Harsch (2014), pp. 1–20.
- 37.
Fernández and Valiente (2021), pp. 351–370.
- 38.
For instance, Serbian Law on Gender Equality (Official Gazette RS, 104/2009) has introduced the rule that at least 30% of all members of the Parliament have to be women. Other WB6 countries have introduced similar legislation, and it seems that it has had a positive impact on women’s empowerment and political participation in the region.
- 39.
Atoyan and Rahman (2017).
- 40.
Jacobsen (2007).
- 41.
That is why education is one of the crucial characteristics within the Blinder-Oaxaca method for calculating the gender pay gap in its adjusted form. See Leythienne and Ronkowski (2018).
- 42.
WEF (2021).
- 43.
- 44.
Jacobsen (2007).
- 45.
Bose (1985).
- 46.
- 47.
- 48.
- 49.
Antić and Krstić (2019), pp. 137–169.
- 50.
Serbian Supreme Court, judgement in the case Rev2 2461/2015.
- 51.
RSE (2019).
- 52.
All WB6 countries currently have laws and regulations forbidding gender-based discrimination. However, they did not explicitly legally protect the standard of equal pay for work of equal value nor introduced mandatory payment transparency for the employers, which could help in reducing the gender pay gap.
- 53.
See, for instance, EIGE (2019).
- 54.
EIGE (2019).
- 55.
The activity rate gap refers to the percentage of people who are either working or looking for work.
- 56.
RCC (2021).
- 57.
See Halvorsen and West Pedersen (2018), pp. 130–143.
- 58.
PWC (2021).
- 59.
EIGE (2019).
- 60.
The women empowerment index examines the gender gap in five areas—labour force participation, education, decision making, health and political participation. All the fundamental elements of the women empowerment index are closely correlated with and could affect the gender pay gap.
- 61.
Petreski and Mojsoska Blazevski (2015).
- 62.
RCC (2021).
- 63.
RCC proposes similar measures in, ‘Economic benefits of gender equality and women empowerment in the western Balkans six’, 2021.
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Ilić, N. (2022). Gender Pay Gap in the Western Balkans: Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men?. In: Davinić, M., Kostić, S. (eds) Gender Competent Public Law and Policies. Gender Perspectives in Law, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14706-7_4
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