International Women's Day is an opportunity to rethink the labor market differently. In a column published on the Lepoint news site, Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice-President for West and Central Africa, explains why promoting equal pay is a moral imperative for Africa.

Globally, men earn on average 15% to 30% more than women. In sub-Saharan Africa, men's median monthly income is more than twice that of women, according to the International Labor Office. And according to a recent study on the potential of female entrepreneurship in Africa, the earnings of female entrepreneurs are on average only two-thirds of those of male entrepreneurs. The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated these wage and professional inequalities between men and women.

Thus, Ousmane Diagana believes that the end of the looming pandemic must be an opportunity to rebuild societies that will offer the same opportunities to women as to men in the world of work. According to Ousmane Diagana, these wage disparities are partly due to persistent discrimination and unequal access to the most remunerative professions and functions. Higher-paying sectors tend to be male-dominated, with fewer women in managerial and decision-making positions.