Gender wage gap in small islands: Effect of a policy framework in Mauritius

• Published date: 01 November 2021
• Author: Roshini Brizmohun,Diana Alessandrini,Valentina Hartarska
• Date: 01 November 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12811

Rev Dev Econ. 2021;25:2207–2229. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode

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2207

© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Received: 6 May 2019

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Revised: 15 June 2021

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Accepted: 23 June 2021

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12811

REGULAR ARTICLE

Gender wage gap in small islands: Effect of a policy

framework in Mauritius

RoshiniBrizmohun1

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DianaAlessandrini2

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ValentinaHartarska3

1Department of Agricultural Production

and Systems, University of Mauritius,

Reduit, Mauritius

2Department of Economics, St Francis

Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada

3Department of Agricultural Economics

and Rural Sociology, Auburn University,

Alabama, USA

Correspondence

Roshini Brizmohun, Faculty of Agriculture,

University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius.

Email: r.brizmohun@uom.ac.mu

Abstract

Mauritius is classified as a high- income small island coun-

try. However, gender inequalities are still prevalent and

therefore need to be addressed. This paper analyses the

attempts made by the country to improve gender parity

through the adoption of a national gender policy frame-

work (NGPF) in 2008, using difference- in- differences

with pooled cross- sectional data from Household Budget

Surveys 2007, 2012 and 2017. The results indicate that no

significant gender wage gap changes occurred in 2012 after

controlling for human capital, industry, and occupation. On

a longer run, the interaction of the gender and year variable

was significant in 2017 only when controlling for industry

and occupation. This study shows that the NGPF can help

women climb the economic ladder within their occupation

but does not help them increase their occupational prestige

by moving to a higher- paying occupation. More focused

policies with clear action plans, for instance, those that will

promote the inclusion of women in high- level positions,

will reduce the gender wage gap. Encouraging women to

participate in the knowledge- based, high- income economy

of Mauritius by overcoming the skills mismatch that per-

vades in sectors with fastest growth is a potential strategy

for improving gender wage parity.

KEYWORDS

gender wage gap, policy effect, small islands

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INTRODUCTION

Mauritius is classified as a high- income economy by the World Bank and has witnessed impressive

improvements in human development indicators, reaching .796 in 2018, placing the country in the

high human development category (United Nations Development Programme, 2019). However, gen-

der inequalities are still prevalent, with a Gender Global Gap index of .665 in 2020 and a ranking of

115 out of 153 countries in gender equality (World Economic Forum,2020).

The gender wage gap is an area of labor economics that has been thoroughly studied around the

world. Many empirical studies show that women and men face unequal treatment in the workplace,

especially in terms of wages (Blau & Kahn,2017; Goldin,2014). Reducing gender inequality is often

recommended as an efficient tool in economic development (Blau,2016; Blau & Kahn,2003). Small

island nations are characterized by limited natural resources, and their comparative advantage often

lies in their human capital. Overcoming the challenges of competition in a globalized world implies

that such nations cannot afford to under- utilize human capital. Unleashing additional and valuable

human capital resources into the economy contributes to making the economy more productive, thus

helping it attain its potential (World Bank Group,2018). Eliminating gender discrimination by dimin-

ishing the wage gap is one of the ways these small island nations can stimulate productivity.

The government of Mauritius adopted a National Gender Policy Framework (NGPF) in 2008 with

a vision to empower women, with action plans for the various stakeholders. The NGPF “calls upon

the government, private institutions, media and civil society to work together to achieve equality and

equity in a holistic manner” (Verdickt,2009). Within the scope of the NGPF, a national steering com-

mittee on gender mainstreaming was set up in June 2010 to ensure that all government ministries apply

a gender perspective in the design, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of their

policies and programs. Therefore, government ministries conducted programs, projects and activities

to improve gender parity within the government and also geared towards their stakeholders. Each min-

istry was requested to set up a gender cell and appoint a gender focal point to institutionalize a mecha-

nism that ensures that the concept of gender permeates all policies and programs of government. The

ministries were requested to formulate sectoral gender policies. By 2013, 12 ministries had formulated

their sectoral policies. For instance, the Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives developed

training and capacity- building programs to enhance the skills of women entrepreneurs; conducted

awareness campaigns on support and financial facilities available for women; and helped women

participate in small and medium enterprise (SME) trade fairs. SMEs in Mauritius contribute 40 per-

cent of gross domestic product and employed around 55 percent of the labor force in 2015 (Ministry

of Business, Enterprise & Cooperatives, 2017). The gender policy of the Ministry of Environment

describes strategies and policy measures that support environment protection and sustainable devel-

opment from a gender perspective, for instance ensuring that gender is embedded in all existing and

future policies, frameworks and legislation; disseminating the NGPF at all levels of the Ministry

and ensuring full commitment of its implementation by all units and departments; ensuring that data

collection is sex disaggregated and used as baseline for assessing gender gaps; conducting periodic

gender audits for effective monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs; and adopting a code

of conduct to protect women against all forms of discrimination in the performance of their duties.

Government ministries were allocated a budget to implement activities under the NGPF which

included training on gender mainstreaming of government officials; capacity building of gender focal

points in government ministries; formulating training of trainers’ program on gender; and undertaking

a national sensitization campaign to reduce the gender gap. Capacity- building sessions were also held

with members of the gender cells and members of the national steering committee, including a session

on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In 2015, and