Namibia’s gender pay gap

By Hilary Mare
A report compiled by the National Planning Commission titled Status of the Namibian Economy and re­leased last week, has called for policy inter­ventions into Namibia’s gender pay gap that has women earning 1.7 percent less per hour on average than men.
Subsequently, industry experts have ex­pressed dismay at the current gender in­equality status, describing the gender pay gap that also puts monthly earnings for males 11.4 percent ahead of their female counterparts as unacceptable.
Confidente has also noted that this pay gap is contained in the 2014 labour force survey conducted by the Namibia Statistic Agen­cy, and that the 2016 version of the survey slightly narrows down the pay gap.
In layman’s terms, the gender pay gap is the average difference between a man’s and a woman’s remuneration.
The report notes that in terms of income levels, the average monthly wage has in­creased with N$133 since 2014 at a national level from N$6 626 to N$6 759, but there is a significant difference between sex, profes­sions and industries.
“Females are lowly paid as compared to male counterparts in the same industry. With the professionals mean monthly wage of N$19 907 being the highest, while people employed in private households earn the lowest at N$1 334,” affirms the report.
In 2016, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Namibia the second most unequal country in the world after South Africa. This is despite the ob­served declining trend in inequality over the last twenty three years of about 14.1 percent­age points.
“While poverty analyses the situation of individuals at the bottom of the income distribution, inequality looks at the income distribution of the entire population. Thus inequality looks at the homogeneity with regards to income of various groups within the population which is crucial for policy intervention. To address inequality in the country, policy intervention needs to be de­vised aimed at addressing the observed wage differences,” the National Planning Com­mission said in the report.
Affirming these calls, Deputy Labour Commissioner, Tuulikki Muafufya-Shikon­go told Confidente that this issue should be addressed urgently, adding that she had res­ervations on how women in nursing have been paid lowly over the years yet it is a fe­male dominated industry.
“The findings are negative and should be addressed with urgency. You cannot dis­criminate based on gender because in some instances women are even doing more than their male counterparts. This is discrimina­tion that is also prohibited by our constitu­tion,” she said.
Employment Equity Commissioner, Vil­bard Uusiku also told this publication that this is a global issue and that although he does not have the figures, he would not be surprised if this is the case in Namibia.
“This is a world problem. Even though we do not have these figures, I would not be sur­prised if it is the case in Namibia. It is a glob­al trend where employers underpay women, than man for work of equal value.
“However, in Namibia, the law is clear that there should be no discrimination in pay on the grounds of sex or any other reason for work of equal value,” said Uusiku.
Interestingly, inequality increased in seven of the thirteen regions namely, Khomas, Ku­nene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Zambezi, Karas and Otjozondjupa, between 2003 and 2010, indicating that the economic growth of 4.2 percent experienced during this period ben­efited the population differently.
“The position of labour in the current economy is actually worrying; the trends over the last years indicate that the econom­ic activities in the Labour market did not favour most participants in the labour mar­ket, as characterized by low employment fig­ures,” extends part of the report.
One of the targets of the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) is to reduce the gini-coefficient which is a measure of in­equality from 0.572 in 2016 to 0.500 in 2022. This is a 7.0 percentage point reduction over a five year period, translating to an annual reduction of 1.4 percent.
On the other hand, unemployment re­mains one of the country’s biggest challenges given that it recorded 34.0 percent in 2016 which is 6.6 percentage points increase over the 2014 rate. Unemployment rate is high­est in Kunene and Zambezi Regions, which recorded 62.8 and 58.3 percent respectively.
It is expected to remain above 34.0 percent in the next two years, with estimations plac­ing it at 37.3 and 35.9 percent in 2017 and 2018. Namibia has significantly managed to increase access to education evidenced by 98.6 percent enrolment rate achieved in light of children accessing education in 2015.
However, quality of education remains a challenge stemming from persistently high dropout, repetition, and survival rates in al­most all school phases (primary, junior and secondary education).