Quite surprisingly, there was no discernible gap between the wages of men and women who responded to the. Figure 9 shows that working women in the survey earn virtually the same wages as their male counterparts.

It is notable, however, that one in five women and men was unable or unwilling to tell interviewers their estimated monthly earnings, which may indicate that earnings are a taboo topic of conversation, or that, for many people, monthly earnings are too variable to estimate with any certainty.

Moroccan women workers are substantially more likely to receive all employment benefits than men. This may be due to the fact that employed women are, on the whole, better educated than employed men, and are more likely to be qualified for high quality occupations. Women are also more likely to work in the public sector, where employment benefits are more common than in the private sector.

• As shown in Figure 10, more than one in four working women receive health insurance (26%), retirement/pension funds (27%), and paid vacation (28%) from their employers, and only slightly fewer receive paid leave for illness (24%), family compensation (24%), and paid maternity leave (22%). Another 10% of women receive unpaid maternity leave. Men were not asked about paternity benefits.
• In comparison, the number of men receiving each of these benefits is much lower: only 16% of working men have employer-sponsored retirement/pension funds, and fewer have health insurance (14%). Thirteen percent receive paid vacation or family compensation, and just 12% are entitled to paid leave when they are ill.

Not surprisingly, receipt of all benefits increases with educational attainment. For example, among working women with no formal education, only 4% receive health insurance, while 61% of women with at least a secondary degree receive that benefit.

• Women with more education are also much more likely to be aware of the benefits they have access to: While 27% of working women with no formal education refused to answer or said they didn’t know if their employer provides health insurance for them, only 6% of secondary school graduates and no college-educated women gave this response. A similar pattern appears in responses to questions about all employment benefits
• Many women either refused to answer or said they did not know whether they receive the following benefitst: health insurance (13%), retirement/pensions (14%), unpaid and paid maternity leave (both 17%), paid leave for illness (15%), paid vacation (14%), and family compensation (15%). In every case, only 1% of men refused to answer or said they did not know.