# **I. Introduction**

Gender inequality represents a significant barrier for human development, and consequently a hinder to the full economic growth and development of any country. Gender inequality entails a different degree of access to similar opportunities based on the single circumstance of gender, placing women in a disadvantageous situation. Its importance has been emphasized in recent years by including it as a key dimension in the context of the MDGs and SDGs. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of gender disparities should come from several fronts, as suggested by the different measures that have been developed to evaluate the extent of it. For instance, the United Nations Gender Inequality Index (GII) measures gender inequalities present in three human development aspects, which include reproductive health, empowerment, and economic status. On the other hand, the Global Gender Gap Index analyzes gender inequalities in four different areas, which are health, education, economy, and politics. The advantages of achieving gender equality are numerous, however in this process it is of primary importance to identify the underlying factors and understand how they drive the disparities across genders in several fronts.

This paper focuses on the economic front of gender equality, as its primary focus is the gender wage gap in Georgia. In the global context, Georgia ranked 76 of 159 countries in the 2015 UN GII, placing it just above the lower half. However, in a more recent ranking, the country ranks 94 of 144 in the 2017 Global Gender Gap Index, placing it below the global average. In the context of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, the country ranks as the fifth lowest performer in terms of the Global Gender Gap Index. Of the four sub-indexes that compose the global index, Georgia performs best at economic participation and opportunity, ranking 75 globally. Nevertheless, similar to other countries in the region, Georgia performs worst at health and survival, ranking 124 of 144. The main underlying factor for the low health performance is the high sex ratio at birth of boys to girls, which places the country at place 138 out of a total of 144. Thus, gender inequality remains a challenge in Georgia.

This paper complements the literature on gender wage gaps in Georgia by investigating the contribution of occupational and sector segregation. To this end, the paper is organized as follows: section II presents a brief overview of the gender wage gap trends observed in Georgia in the last decade, section III documents the existing gender segregation in terms of occupations and sectors in Georgia, and section IV describes the methodology for the remaining analysis. Main findings of the role of segregation in the gender wage gap are presented in section V, and finally section VII concludes and comments on policy implications of our findings.

# **II. Data and descriptive statistics**

This study uses data from the Georgian Household Budget Survey (HBS) for the period 2004-2015. The HBS is a quarterly survey of about 3,000 households that follows a rotating panel design. Surveyed households remain in the sample for four quarters before being replaced by a new cohort. We limit the sample to 25–55-year-old individuals to avoid issues related to the selection into 2