Nepal’s manufacturing sector employs less number of women than men and the female workforce does not get wages on par with their male counterparts. In fact, the wage gap between male and female workers in manufacturing jobs has widened between 1996 and 2012.

Censuses of manufacturing industries carried out in different times show that wage gap widened to 17 percent in 2011-12 from 12.5 percent in 1996-97. In the four censuses carried out in the period, the highest gap was seen in the fiscal year 2001-02, according to a report titled ‘Development of Manufacturing Industries in Nepal: Current State and Future Challenges,’ released recently by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

According to the report, there is a wage gap in all the categories of industries that employ low technology, medium-low technology and medium-high technologies.

Wage gap in industries using low technology is 19.8 percent, in those using low-medium technology is 25.5 percent and in industries using medium-high technology it is 15.8 percent as of the 2011-12 census, according to the report.

Wages that women get are lower than those of males in all the cases except for tobacco products from 2001-02 onwards, food and beverage in 2006-07, wood products in 1996-97 and fabricated metal products in 2006-07.

Deputy Director General of CBS Rudra Suwal said that women were usually employed in non-formal jobs in the industries which resulted in pay gap in manufacturing establishments. “Women usually are employed in low skilled jobs comparatively. They work on daily wage and are subjected to lower pay,” he added.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Pradeep Jung Pandey claimed that there is no gap in wages between the two sexes in the same job. “Basic wage, however, is equal for all irrespective of gender,” he added. “Pay differs as men usually engage in tasks such as mechanical works that require skills.”

According to General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions President Bishnu Rimal, there is no discrimination in wages between male and female in general but wages may vary based on the nature of job. “If employees are hired to do specific jobs on contract basis, their wages are different from those who do ordinary jobs,” said Rimal.

The highest gap remained in industries using medium-low technologies in all the four censuses. But the gap widened in biggest margin in low technology using industries. During the 15 years, there were fluctuations in wage gap in each census but the gap continued to persist in all the three categories of industries.

All the four manufacturing and establishment censuses show there are less than 20 percent women in the manufacturing establishments. Of the total manufacturing employment, around 5 percent women did administrative duties and less than 5 percent women were technical workers between 1996-97 and 2011-12.

Published on: 1 February 2015 | The Kathmandu Post