Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Romania: From Planned Equality to Market Inequality?

49 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2007

See all articles by Thomas Andrén

Thomas Andrén

DAV Institute of Management - National Institute of Economic Research

Daniela Andren

Örebro University School of Business

Date Written: November 2007

Abstract

In Romania, the communist regime promoted an official policy of gender equality for more than 40 years, providing equal access to education and employment, and restricting pay differentiation based on gender. After its fall in December 1989, the promotion of equal opportunities and treatment for women and men did not constitute a priority for any of the governments of the 1990s. Given that both the economic mechanisms and the institutional settings changed radically, the question is if this affected gender equality. This paper analyzes both gender and occupational wage gaps in Romania before and during the first years of transition from a planned to a market economy. The results suggest that the communist institutions did succeed in eliminating the gender wage differences in female- and male-dominated occupations, but not in gender-integrated occupations, for which the gender wage gap was about 32%. During the transitions years, this gap decreased to 20-24%, while the gender wag gap in male and female-dominated occupations increased to 15%.

Keywords: occupational segregation, gender wage gap, occupational wage gap

JEL Classification: J24, J31, J71, J78, P26, P27

Suggested Citation

Andrén, Thomas and Andrén, Daniela, Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Romania: From Planned Equality to Market Inequality? (November 2007). IZA Discussion Paper No. 3152, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1033366 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1033366

Thomas Andrén (Contact Author)

DAV Institute of Management - National Institute of Economic Research ( email )

Box 3116
Stockholm, 10362
Sweden
08-45359449 (Phone)

Daniela Andrén

Örebro University School of Business ( email )

Department of Economics
Örebro, 70182
Sweden
+46-(0)19-30 35 71 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.oru.se/english/employee/daniela_andren

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