Strong Gender Contract, Weak Institutions: Gender Pay Gap in Slovenia and Czechia

This article investigates the dynamics of the gender pay gap (GPG) in two post-socialist economies, Czechia and Slovenia, during their capitalist transition and EU membership. Using regression analysis on large samples of linked employer–employee data to estimate the total GPG and within-job GPG and institutional analysis, we find that in both countries women earn significantly less than men for the same work. We interpret this as due to institutions, policies, and practices, including gender inequalities in the division of unpaid work and domestic care, which result in different but strong gender contracts in the two countries. The segregation of women and men into differently paid occupations, jobs, or workplaces does not explain much of the total GPG in Slovenia. In contrast, it explains about half of the total GPG in Czechia. We argue that this is due to weak labor market institutions in Czechia, recently weakening in Slovenia.