UN Women is grounded in working for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action in East and Southern Africa. Women across the globe represent the most deprived group of the population in spite of their paramount social and economic role, which is even more evident in East and South Africa region. Women have limited access to, and control over critical resources, as a result of social, cultural and economic norms. UN Women works through advocacy and policy work to recognize and realize equal pay for work of equal value. Equal pay means that all workers have the right to receive equal remuneration for work of equal value. While the concept is straightforward, what equal pay actually entails and how its applied in practice has proven to be difficult.

Women are less likely to participate in the labour market compared to their male counterparts due to several different factors, one being the burden of unpaid care work. However, when women do in fact participate in the labour market it is proven that they are more likely to receive lower incomes than men. Women only make approximately 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, globally. Income inequality between men and women persists in all countries and across all sectors, women’s work is deemed under-valued. Certain sectors that are deemed female dominated tend to be less valued and remunerated less although the work requires equal or even more skills than some male dominated highly remunerated sectors. This in turn leads to more women retiring into poverty.

The gender pay gap (GPG) is rooted in systemic inequalities. Women, particularly migrant women, are overrepresented in the informal sector around the globe. In Africa 44.2% of workers in the informal sector are women. Informal workers tend to fall outside of the domains of labour laws, trapping them in low-paying, unsafe working environments, without social benefits. These poor conditions for women workers perpetuate the gender pay gap.

Women’s disproportionate share of care and domestic work further marginalizes women’s position in the labour market. Women’s burden of unpaid care and domestic work implies that they have less time in the labour market than their male counterparts. This includes household tasks such as cooking, cleaning fetching firewood and water, and taking care of children and the elderly. In Africa, women spend 3.4 times more in unpaid care work than their male counterparts. The motherhood penalty is another determinate factor that plays a role in the pay inequality, that further, pushes women into informal economy, causal and part-time work, and tends to be larger in developing countries than in developed countries. Moreover, the pay inequality between women and men is also explained by restrictive and traditional gender roles as well as discriminatory hiring practices.

The calculation of the gender wage/pay gap will be two folded, covering the adjusted and unadjusted pay gap. Different organizations have developed methodologies to measure gender pay gap. Thus, for example, according to OECD gender pay gap (in unadjusted form) is measured as the difference between male and female earnings expressed as a 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 and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. Adjusted pay gap controls for the individual characteristics of the employee such as education, work experience occupation etc. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method should be applied in the study to explain inequality in the gender pay gap between men and women. To understand every aspect of inequality multiple regression models should be analysed in a way to decompose the inequality into contributing factors. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition is a statistical method that decomposes differences in mean outcomes across two groups into a part that is due to group differences in the levels of explanatory variables and a part that is due to differential magnitudes of regression coefficients.

Objectives of the assignment:

The objective of the assignment is to conduct the analysis and of the regional and country level adjusted Gender Pay Gap based on available national survey data (such as the Labour Force Survey, Household Survey etc). The consultant will also develop an analysis of the labour market structure identifying vertical and horizonal segregation within the economy as well as analysing trends in formal and informal (self-)employment where possible. The consultant will produce a regional analytical report as well as country level reports.

The following data is available (however the study will not be limited to these countries):

• Ethiopia: Socioeconomic Survey (2018-2019)
• Kenya: Continuous Household Survey (2019)
• Malawi: The Fifth Integrated Household Survey (2019-2020) and the LFS (2013)
• Mauritius: Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey (2020)
• Namibia: Household Survey (2015) and the LFS (2016)
• Rwanda: Integrated Living Conditions Survey (2016-2017) and the LFS (2019)
• South Africa: Household Survey (2018) and the LFS (2020)
• Uganda: National Panel Survey (2019-2020)

The consultant will be under the direct supervision of the Regional Policy Specialist for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and will undertake the assignment in close coordination with UN Women colleagues in the Statistics Teams as well country level WEE specialists.

Scope of Work:

The objectives of this consultancy assignment are to compile available data, assess and analyse the evidence available and conduct an analysis on the gender pay gap in ESAR. The consultant will use the overall methodology used for UN Women’s report on the gender pay gap in Georgia and Armenia. These reports will serve as the blueprint for the consultant, together with additional comments and adjustments from the UN Women WEE team.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for the following:

• Present a detailed work plan
• Conduct the desk/literature review of the best practices on analysing the gender pay gap, adjusted gender pay gap and the measurement of SDG-related indicators of gender-related work inequality;
• Develop the methodology in line with internationally recognized and comparative methodologies (OECD, EUROSTAT) for calculating the adjusted gender pay gap based on Labour Force Survey (LFS) data available in Eastern and Southern Africa;
• Analyse the adjusted pay gap based on the data;
• Provide any other support related to the assignment based on the UN Women request;
• Develop the methodology for gender analysis of the data in cooperation with the UN Women team;
• Conduct the gender analysis of the data with the special focus on SDG-related indicators;
• Present the draft research report/paper at a validation meeting with relevant partners;
• Finalize a brief with the main findings of the report including infographics to be shared lates August 15th;
• Finalize report based on inputs from UN Women and relevant partners.

Deliverables

1. Assessment of datasets provided by UN Women: the consultant will compare the dataset with the original datafiles and make an overall assessment if and how the datasets can be used.
2. The consultant will use UN Women’s Georgia and Armenia Gender Pay Gap reports as the blueprint for the analysis
3. Rigorous analysis of the adjusted gender pay gap in the region, including comparing countries, country chapters, assessment of polices/laws that positively impact the gender pay gap, provide policy recommendations. A regional report and country specific reports will be produced.
4. Submit a brief August 15th with the main findings from the report including infographics.

Work Schedule:

Please notice that the dates could be updated by UN Women. 

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• A demonstrated ability to analyze, compile and synthesize information in coherent and succinct formats
• Preferably have a good understanding of the East and Southern Africa region (ESAR)
• Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines
• Ability to assess the accuracy, validity, and integrity of the data

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• A Master’s degree in economics, statistics, gender studies, development studies, social sciences, international relations, politics or related field with experience in research is required. PHD degree is a bonus.

Experience

• A minimum of ten (10) years of proven experience in working in research
• Proven substantive relevant experience in working with large data sets and/or other applied research
• Proven experience in statistics and programming skills in Stata as well as proficiency in Excel and using quantitative analytical methods, decomposition analysis preferred. Experience working on adjusted gender pay gap analyses is an added advantage
• Proven experience in writing comprehensive reports aimed at an audience that included policy makers in English
• Experience of working with the UN system as well as national and regional entities in the region

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required

Please attach a completed P11 to your application. Kindly note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

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