Labor market gender inequality in Ukraine
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Author(s)Oleksandra KurbetLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4519-0552
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Yuliia ShapovalLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9965-5522
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Viktoriia NebratLink to ORCID Index: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5419-3181
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DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.23(4).2025.44
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Article InfoVolume 23 2025, Issue #4, pp. 650-664
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Type of the article: Research Article
Abstract
Discriminatory distribution of professions and wages affects the workforce. This paper aims to assess gender employment and pay gaps within Ukraine’s labor market, utilizing data from 2013 to 2021. Before the full-scale war, according to the Gender Employment Gap Index, female and male employment were concentrated in different occupational groups, with the list of female and male professions unchanged. While the Duncan index (0.338–0.364) confirmed pronounced gender occupational segregation, the Karmel-MacLachlan index (0.041–0.046) demonstrated that its weighted effect was moderate, as the most segregated occupations accounted for a relatively modest share of the employed population. The gender pay gap in Ukraine remained stable, with an unweighted gender pay gap of 8–12% and a weighted gender pay gap of 9–12%, and by type of economic activity, within these same limits. The most discriminatory industries did not impact the overall gender pay gap. Therefore, lowering gender gaps in Ukraine is not feasible without targeted policies in the major industries, where the largest number of people are employed. Since the full-scale war, women have become more proactive not only in registering sole proprietorships and assuming ownership in businesses but also in military employment. Yet, the results point to the structural entrenchment of women in less profitable industries that perpetuates inequality regardless of changes in the average pay gap.
Acknowledgment
The paper was funded as part of the “Financial tools for reducing economic inequality in Ukraine” research project (No. 0124U002254), conducted at the State Organization “Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.”
- Keywords
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JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)J21, J16, J71
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References62
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Tables3
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Figures3
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- Figure 1. Structural patterns shaping gender inequality in Ukraine
- Figure 2. Gender pay (wage) gap and occupational segregation in Ukraine, 2013–2021
- Figure 3. Female share in entrepreneurship, unemployment, and employment in Ukraine, %
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- Table 1. Share of employed women, by occupational group, 2013–2021, %
- Table 2. Gender employment gap by occupational group in Ukraine, 2013–2021, %
- Table 3. Gender pay gap by average monthly wage per full-time employee, by type of economic activity, in Ukraine, 2013–2021, %
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Ahmad Bashawir Abdul Ghani ,
Irwanshah Zainal Abidin ,
Jeya Malar Rayaiappan
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.15(1).2017.05
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doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.17(2).2019.36
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doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.19(3).2021.01
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the Pallas Athéné Foundations.
