Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-g4j75 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-31T01:50:02.531Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender wage differences in Nigerian self and paid employment: Do marriage and children matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Ikechukwu Darlington Nwaka ,
Fatma Guven-Lisaniler  and
Gulcay Tuna
Ikechukwu Darlington Nwaka*
Affiliation:
Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus, Turkey
Fatma Guven-Lisaniler
Affiliation:
Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus, Turkey
Gulcay Tuna
Affiliation:
Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus, Turkey
*
Ikechukwu Darlington Nwaka, Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Salamis Road, Famagusta 99628, North Cyprus, via Mersin 10, Turkey. Email: ikechukwu.nwaka@emu.edu.tr; ikenwaka@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates gender differences in Nigeria, in the impact of marriage and children on location in the self or waged employment sector, and on income from work. Findings show that the pay structure varies across employment sectors – waged and self-employed – and that the determinants of employment sector vary by gender and family roles. Differences in human capital investment and geopolitical zones also need to be considered. The estimates in the study reveal that there is a marriage premium for both males and females in the waged labour market, but partially support Becker’s (1991) gender-based household specialisation model in terms of the relative incidence of self-employment. There is a wage penalty for married women with children in the paid-employment labour market, but motherhood is also negatively associated with income levels for self-employed women. We also find a fatherhood penalty for paid-employed men. Nevertheless, overall, the gender difference is higher in relatively less regulated self-employment compared to the more regulated paid employment labour market. Findings therefore offer some policy inputs but also suggest the need for further research into the causes of the gender pay gap in self- and paid employment, and thus into the overall wage gap in Nigeria that inhibits women’s labour market participation and welfare.

Keywords

FamilygendermarriageNigeriapaid employmentself-employmentwage differentialJ310J710D130
Type
Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 490 - 510
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aderemi, TA (2015) Does the wage curve exist in Nigeria? Evidence from a disaggregated labour market. Journal of Social and Economic Development 17(2): 184–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altonji, JG and Blank, RM (1999) Race and gender in the labor market. In: Ashenfelder, O and Card, D (eds) Handbook of Labor Economics, vol. 3. Amsterdam: Elsevier BV, pp. 3143–3259.Google Scholar
Aminu, A (2010) Determinants of Participation and Earnings in Wage Employment in Nigeria. Nairobi, Kenya: African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).Google Scholar
Anderson, KL (2010) Conflict, power, and violence in families. Journal of Marriage and Family 72(3): 726–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aromolaran, AB (2006) Estimates of Mincerian returns to schooling in Nigeria. Oxford Development Studies 34(2): 265–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, GS (1991) A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, J and Estrin, S (2007) Entrepreneurial entry in developing economies: modeling interactions between the formal and informal sector. Working Paper No. 44, 19 May. London: London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Blanchflower, DG and Oswald, A (1998) What makes an entrepreneur? Journal of Labor Economics 16(1): 26–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blinder, AS (1973) Wage discrimination: reduced form and structural estimates. Journal of Human Resources 8(4): 436–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budig, MJ (2006) Gender, self-employment, and earnings: the interlocking structures of family and professional status. Gender and Society 20(6): 725–753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budig, MJ and England, P (2001) The wage penalty for motherhood. American Sociological Review 66(2): 204–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, C, Henley, A and Latreille, P (2009) Why Do Individuals Choose Self-Employment? IZA Discussion Paper 3974. Bonn, Germany: IZA. Available at: http://repec.iza.org/dp3974.pdf (accessed 3 November 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastough, K and Miller, PW (2004) The gender wage gap in paid-and self-employment in Australia. Australian Economic Papers 43(3): 257–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gindling, TH (1991) Labor market segmentation and the determination of wages in the public, private-formal, and informal sectors in San Jose, Costa Rica. Economic Development and Cultural Change 39(3): 585–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gindling, TH and Newhouse, D (2014) Self-employment in the developing world. World Development 56(Issue C): 313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glick, P and Sahn, DE (1997) Gender and education impacts on employment and earnings in West Africa: evidence from Guinea. Economic Development and Cultural Change 45(4): 793–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groesbeck, JD and Israelsen, LD (1994) The relationship between household size, real wages, and labor force participation rates of men and women. Economics Research Institute Study Paper 43, August. Logan, UT: Utah State University.Google Scholar
Hakim, C (1993) Segregated and integrated occupations: a new approach to analysing social change. European Sociological Review 9(3): 289–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, KD (2003) Pushed or pulled? Women’s entry into self-employment and small business ownership. Gender, Work & Organization 10(4): 433–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hundley, G (2000) Male/female earnings differences in self-employment: the effects of marriage, children, and the household division of labor. Industrial and Labor Relations Review 54(1): 95–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koenker, R (2005) Quantile Regression (No. 38). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lechmann, DS and Schnabel, C (2012) Why is there a gender earnings gap in self-employment? A decomposition analysis with German data. IZA Journal of European Labor Studies 1(1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, L (1983) Generalized econometric models with selectivity. Econometrica 51(2): 502–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Z, Picot, G and Compton, J (2000) The entry and exit dynamics of self-employment in Canada. Small Business Economics 15(2): 105–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McFadden, D (1984) Econometric analysis of qualitative response models. In: Griliches, Z and Intriligator, M (eds) Handbook of Econometrics, vol. 2. New York: North Holland, pp. 1395–1457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, MI and Flaig, A (2014) Marriage, children, and self-employment earnings: an analysis of self-employed women in the US. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 35(3): 313–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millán, JM, Congregado, E and Román, C (2012) Determinants of self-employment survival in Europe. Small Business Economics 38(2): 231–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moghadam, VM (1999) Gender and the global economy. In: Ferree, M, Lorber, J and Hess, B (eds) Revisioning Gender. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing, pp. 128–160.Google Scholar
Molina, JA and Montuenga, VM (2009) The motherhood wage penalty in Spain. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 30(3): 237–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, RL (1983) Employer discrimination: evidence from self-employed workers. Review of Economics and Statistics 65(3): 496–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (2013) General Household Survey Panel Data-2nd Wave 2011/2012. Abuja, Nigeria: NBS.Google Scholar
National Manpower Board (NMB) (1998) The study of the Nigerian labour market: selected metropolitan areas. Manpower Study, No 33. Abuja, Nigeria: NMB.Google Scholar
Nicodemo, C (2009) Gender pay gap and quantile regression in European families. IZA Discussion Paper Series, DP No. 3978, January. Available at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp3978.pdf CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nwaka, ID, Uma, KE and Tuna, G (2015) Trade openness and unemployment: empirical evidence for Nigeria. The Economic and Labour Relations Review 26(1): 117–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oaxaca, R (1973) Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets. International Economic Review 14(3): 693–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogwumike, F, Alaba, O, Alayande, B, et al . (2006) Labour force participation, earnings and inequality in Nigeria. Nairobi, Kenya: African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).Google Scholar
Pham, T-H and Reilly, B (2007) The Gender Pay Gap in Vietnam, 1993-2002: A quantile regression approach. Journal of Asian Economics 18(5): 775–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pisani, MJ (2006) Nicaraguan self-employed women under neoliberalism: characteristics and determinants. Latin American Business Review 7(1): 89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, J and Johnson, DR (2012) Don’t blame the babies: work hour mismatches and the role children. Social Forces 91(1): 131–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schafgans, M and Stelcnery, M (2006) Selectivity and the gender wage gap decomposition in the presence of a joint decision process. LSE STICERD Research Paper No. EM513, December. London: London School of Economics and Political Science.Google Scholar
Simon, JK and Way, MM (2016) Why the gap? Determinants of self-employment earnings differentials for male and female millennials in the US. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 37(2): 297–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Temesgen, T (2008) Effects of labor market institutions and establishment characteristics on gender wage inequality in Africa: evidence from industry survey data in Nigeria. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 28(9/10): 309–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vijverberg, WP (1993) Educational investments and returns for women and men in Côte d’Ivoire. Journal of Human Resources 28(4): 933–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar