Driving Forces of Wage Gap and its impact on Female Participation on Economic Growth: Evidence from in Egypt, Malaysia and Pakistan

Abstract

This research paper tackles the determinants of wage differentials and wage inequality in Egypt and Malaysia, as well as their impacts on the economy. However, women tend to be so discriminated up until now, despite the enormous development we have been through, they still get paid less than men. Therefore, this paper aims to know the role of women and how they influence economic growth. Moreover, the study is carried upon the period 1990-2017. The paper concludes that education and human capital have a great role in determining wages and acquiring women an opportunity of getting higher earnings. Closing the wage gap is somehow hard for Egypt as it is a low-income country. While, Malaysia showed a downward trend in the female participation rate in the labor market in 2006 than in 1992 for different cultural perspectives and obstacles facing women in the Malaysian labor market. Furthermore, women turned to have a positive impact on economic growth according to the Feminization U’ Model. Also, we used Belgium and Pakistan as a case study to reflect how they overcame gender discrimination in wage pay due to different policies they implemented and trade unions they joined.