Jeddi and Malouche STUDYING WAGE GAP BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN TUNISIA Gender wage gap in Tunisian labor market Hela Jeddi 1 and Dhafer Malouche 1,2* * Correspondence: mdhafer@umich.edu 1 Unit´ e MASE-Ecole Sup´ erieure de la Statistique et de l’Analyse de l’Information, Unit´ e Mod´ elisation et Analyse Statistique et Economique, University of Carthage, Tunisia 2 Center of Political Studies, Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Abstract This paper focuses on estimating gender pay gap in Tunisia by using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique. The findings provides useful insights because females in Tunisia enjoy an educational advantage over males, yet a persistent though small wage gap favouring males exists. The analysis would help understand the wage gap between males and females by determining differences in wages due to endowments and returns to between both genders, and differences due to different treatment for observable equivalent characteristics, thus discrimination against women. The study used the nationally representative Population-Employment survey 2005. It was found out that male-female wage gap is about 20% and that the overall gap is attributed to discrimination against women. It is especially due to the underestimation of female characteristics on the labor market. Keywords: Gender wage inequality; Oaxaca Blinder decomposition; linear regression models; R statistical programming language 1 Introduction Tunisia demonstrated precocious commitment to gender equity and has always been considered as one of the most advanced Arab countries in terms of women rights, es- pecially owing to its family code enacted in 1956. Indeed, right after independence, the social dimension was indispensable to the creation of a modern and balanced society which prohibits all forms of exclusion and ensures equal opportunities, in- cluding the improvement of demographic and health indicators, lengthening life expectancy, the increase in immunization coverage, the decline in infant mortality and reducing poverty and expanding coverage. The coutnry then ratified the Con- vention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1985 and amended the labor code, the penal code, nationality code which have strength- ened the rights of women. Tunisia ratified the ILO’s Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), in 1959, the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), in 1968, and officially rose its reservations on the United Nations Convention on the Elimi- nation of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2014, but maintains the General Declaration. The new 2014 Constitution is showing advances in women’s rights, on deciding on discrimination, equal opportunities in the positions of re- sponsibility and gender-based violence. The economic participation of women in Tunisia, has increased in the middle 1970s when the country had adopted a devel- opment model focused on labor-intensive industries and export-oriented activities such as textile. Foreign and domestic private capital especially attracted young fe- male labor ejected from school system. Since, significant disparities between gender