GSS data reveals women are paid 34.2% less their male counterparts
In the wake of the recently released data from the 2022 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES), conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), disquieting disparities in earnings between men and women have come to light.
According to the report, among paid workers, women find themselves earning a staggering 34.2% less than their male counterparts. This eye-opening statistic is not bereft of context, as the estimated gender wage gap accounts for factors such as age, years of work experience, education level, occupation, industry, employment sector, and region of residence.
The analysis goes further, revealing nuanced disparities among different segments of the workforce. Notably, women holding tertiary education qualifications or higher face a less pronounced but still concerning wage gap of 12.7% compared to men. At the other end of the spectrum, workers with basic education endure the highest gap at a staggering 60.1%, followed closely by those with no formal education, where the gap stands at 54.0%.
Sectoral disparities are equally disconcerting. The private informal sector emerges as the arena where the gender wage gap is most glaring, with women earning a disheartening 58.7% less than their male counterparts. While the private formal sector fares somewhat better, a wage gap of 29.9% is still cause for concern. Surprisingly, the public sector presents the most equitable earnings distribution, with women earning just 10.5% less than men.
Age, it seems, is another determinant of wage disparity. Among the population aged 36 to 60 years, women face a staggering 33.4% wage deficit compared to men, a figure almost 3.0 percentage points higher than the 15 to 35-year-old age group, where women earn 30.7% less than their male peers.
As the world observes International Equal Pay Day on 18 September, these findings underscore the pressing need for concerted efforts to rectify gender wage disparities. Achieving equal pay for work of equal value remains a vital goal for Ghana’s pursuit of gender equality in its workforce, and the revelations from the AHIES data only serve to underscore the urgency of this mission.
