Gender Differences Among Youth: Education to Job Transitions in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan

Despite education expansion, decreasing fertility rate and economic progress, women still face labor market integration problems and labor market disadvantages compared to men around the world. This applies also to the region of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) and especially to Muslim societies of the CCA region due to the general weak labor market attachment of women in Muslim countries. As gender inequalities emerge already quite early in the working life this chapter focuses on gender inequalities in the transition from education to work. The key research question is how strong gender inequality is among young people who are transiting from school to work in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan. The nationally representative, retrospective life history data from the TEW-CCA “Youth Transitions Surveys” of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Tajikistan 2017 are used to answer the research question. The gender inequality is described here in various aspects of the transition from education to work. First, the labor market inactivity decision is examined. Second, among those who are active in the labor market, it is investigated how much time it takes from the time of graduation until the moment of finding a first job. Third, the quality of the first job obtained is analyzed in terms of chances of getting access to formal sector jobs. Comparing results across the three countries will allow us to highlight cross-country similarities and differences that are expected because Soviet institutional legacy and varying economic and cultural conditions.