Understanding employment and wage inequality in Nepal

While Nepal's labor force participation rate among women is high, employment and wage inequality persists. Athena is supporting UN Women to find out why these gains have not been commensurate in terms employment quality and equal wage outcomes. This involves synthesising primary and secondary data, along with field surveys in four districts: Morang, Parsa, Kaski, and Bhaktapur. It investigates the status of women employees across five non-agriculture sectors of manufacturing, construction, trade, services and transportation. The study focuses primarily on the existing socio-economic, structural and governance-related barriers hindering women from attaining wage and employment equality. It also involves reviewing public policies and their implications in reducing inequality and achieving women empowerment among the rural and urban female labor force in Nepal.