In Kazakhstan, women are more educated, but under-paid

In Kazakhstan, following 2017, 64.1% of all leadership positions at any level of authority or management, including heads of organizations, were taken by men. At the same time, the gap in the salaries makes up more than 30% in favor of men, Energyprom.kz reports.

The most number of women were among employees, among those who prepare information, form documentations, audits and service, that is 72.5%. Among the experts with the highest level of qualification, the share of women is 64%.

The women leaders were paid by 36.2% less than men in 2016, the experts with the highest qualification were paid by 34.4% less than men, the experts with the middle level were paid by 26.3% less.

“The smallest gender pay gap, that is the gap in the salaries according to the gender among employees in the sphere of service, housing and communal services, trade and other similar activities was only 15.2%. In 2017, the biggest gap in the salaries of employees in the same positions was in the sphere of plant growing and animal husbandry, where women were paid by 45% less for the same work than men,” says the message.

Also, the biggest gap in the salaries is overseen in the following spheres: coal mining (39.6% in the same positions), services on accommodation and food (35.8%), air transport (31.2%), freight railway transport (31.1%) and financial and insurance activities (28.7%).

“It is notable that more than half of all employed women (52.5%) were paid not more than 90 thousand tenge in 2017, and only 38.9% of men worked at such level of salary. At the same time, the salaries of more than 210 thousand tenge in 2017 were paid to only 9.2% of all working women against 17.7% of men,” Energyprom says.

Women in 2017 made up 50.1% of all who work in the country, but their share in the salary fund was only 41.2%.

In general, despite the fact that the gap in the salaries of men and women in the last years is being reduced, in 2016 it was 31.4%.

“In addition to the fact that the men in the same positions are paid the same, the women have more difficulties to be employed. Thus, the level of unemployment following 2016 comprised 4.4% for able-bodied men and 5.7% for women.

The gap in the most childbearing age is more obvious: the level of the youth unemployment for men is 6.1% and for women - 12.3%. It is paradoxical even if the fact that women are more educated. Thus, according to the IVth quarter of 2017, the high education was among 42.7% of all working women and among 33.9% of men,” says the monitoring agency.

According to the UNDP, the gap between the salaries of women and men makes up 23%.