Direct and indirect gender discrimination in the South African labour market

ISSN： 0143-7720

Source： International Journal of Manpower, Vol.25, Iss.3-4, 2004-03, pp. : 321-342

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Abstract

Only few studies have examined gender wage differentials and the extent of gender discrimination in South Africa. The following analysis covers several years after the end of Apartheid to describe the development of gender wage differentials and discrimination over time. Furthermore, it is also taken into account that labour force participants may have different probabilities of finding employment. By estimating selectivity corrected wage regressions it is not only possible to decompose wage gaps into the well-known endowment and discrimination components but also detect the so-called indirect effects that already arise at the selection into employment stage. Results obtained from this approach can drastically change the impression of wage discrimination gained from standard decomposition techniques. African women were found to increasingly suffer from discrimination at the hiring stage, whereas White women are more affected by direct wage discrimination.