Background

The "gender wage gap" or "gender pay gap" is one critical areas of concern when it comes to discrimination of women on the labor market. Many governments committed to gender eqaulity and anti-discrimination based on sex, are taking active measures to close the "gender pay gap" and remove barriers that lead to discrepancy between men's and women's earnings as part of overall strategies to achieve de facto gender equality in all spheres of life. Elimination of gender pay gap is seen by some experts also as potential contribution to increased household / family income and thus, as a way to address risk of poverty.

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination agains Women (CEDAW) states men and women should have "the rights to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment on respect of work of equal valus, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the equality of work" (CEDAW, Art11, d). The CEDAW Commitee also requested the government of Georgia provide information in its 4th and 5th periodic report (to be reviewed in July 2014) on any steps taken towards giving full legislative expression of the principle of equal pay for the work of equal value in order to comply with Article 11 of CEDAW (List of issues and principles of equal pay for the work of equal value in order to comply with Article 11 of CEDAW (List of issues and questions in relation to the combined 4th and 5th PR of Georgia, CEDAW/C/GEO/4-5, 25 october 2013, Geneva).

In Georgia according to official statistical data (GEOSTAT, 2012) difference in average nominal monthly salaries of women and men in all sectors of economy between men and women represented 40%. To provide reliable evidence of unjustified differences between men's and women's wages and salaries, various methodologies have been developed to compare data over time and among the countries.

Different organizations have developed methodologies to measure gender pay gap. Thus, for example, according to OECD gender wage / pay gap (in unadjusted form) is measured as the difference between male and female earnings espressed as percentage of male earnings. The extent of the gap varies with the position of men and women taken as reference in the distribution of earnings. According to EUROSTAT that compares statistical data and trends in GPG in the EU member states, the unadjusted Gender Pay Gap (GPG) represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees.

Based on request from the governmental partner, UN Women partnered with Georgian National Statistics Office - GEOSTAT, and agreed on providing short term technical assistance to GEOSTAT aimed at analyzing / refining methodology, data collection and data analysis related to gender pay gap. UN Women is seeking for an international consultant, who will be working under overall guidance on UN Women Programme Specialist to fulfil the following duties and responsibilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for the following:
  • In collaboration with an assigned staff of GEOSTAT analyze availability / existing data relevant to measuring gender pay gap (GPG) in line with internationally recognized and comparative methodologies (OECD, EUROSTAT);
  • Provide recommendation concerning data collection, methodology and analysis of GPG;
  • Provide any other support related to the assignment based on the GEOSTAT request.  

Key Deliverables and Timeframe:

  • Detailed work plan (3 working days home-based) prior to travel to Tbilisi - by 6 June, 2014;
  • Provide intensive training / couching on GPG methodology and recommendations to GEOSTAT in regard to improving methodology for data collection and data analysis for GPG during the mission in Georgia (5 working days in Tbilisi) - by 20 June, 2014;
  • Develop draft final report with key findings and recommendations towards enhancement of GPG data collection and data analysis methodology, seek feedback from GEOSTAT to the draft report and finalize it with key findings and recommendations (5 working days home-based) - by 4 July, 2014.
The timeframe for the work of the consultant is tentatively planned in the period of 2 June - 4 July 2014, for 13 working days, 5 of which will be in Tbilisi, Georgia and 8 home-based.  

Competencies

Functional Competencies:
  • Strong understanding of gender mainstreaming concept and ability to apply this tool;
  • Sound understanding and demonstrated knowledge of gender equality and women's rights principle.

Required Skills and Experience

Education::

  • University degree in in statistics, mathematics, economics or related discipline

Experience:

  • At least three years of experience in providing technical assistance/ working in field of gender statistics;
  • Previous experience in conducting training for people with different background, cultures and languages is an asset.

Language:

  • Fluency in English.
Evaluation procedure:

The candidates will be evaluated against the following technical and financial criteria:

Technical evaluation criteria (including minimum qualifications):
  • University degree in statistics, mathematics, economy or related discipline (max 100 points);
  • Proved record of working on statistical issues/surveys/gender statistics/gender pay gap (max 110 points); 
  • Previous experience in conducting training for people with different background, cultures and languages on statistics and data collection and analysis (max 50 points);
  • Technical proposal / work plan (max 70 points);
  • Fluency in English (max 20 points). 
Maximum total technical score amounts to 350 points. Only candidates who have passed over the mandatory criteria and have accumulated at least 245 points under the technical evaluation will qualify to the next round of the financial evaluation.

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula: S = Fmin / F * 150.
  • S - score received on financial evaluation;
  • Fmin - the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
  • F - financial offer under the consideration.
Winning candidate:
The Winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

Management Arrangements:
The consultant will work under direct supervision of UN Women Programme Specialist.

Financial Arrangements:
Payment will be disbursed upon successful mission, submission and approval of required deliverables and certification by the Programme Specialst that the services have been satisfactory performed in high quality.

Application procedure:
  • CV and P11 form that can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment/
  • Technical proposal explaining why candidate considers himself/herself the most suitable for the work and providing brief methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and conduct the work;
  • Financial proposal* in USD - aggregated and with breakdown (total remuneration, travel expenses Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), etc.)

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Each applicant will be required to submit an aggregated financial offer ("aggregated financial offer" is the lump sum of all financial claims of the candidates for accomplishment of the task, including travel and related costs to Tbilisi)