Even though the pay gap between men and women in Singapore has narrowed down, women still have lower wage increase, according to a study by World Economic Forum. 

The difference between the earnings of men and women in Singapore was six percent in 2018 as compared to 8.8 percent in 2002, as per regional media reports and Bloomberg. Other countries such as the US show a gap of eight percent, Canada has a differential of 7.7 to 8. 3 percent, while in China, the difference is 18.3 percent. 

The employment rate for women in Singapore rose to 78 percent from 62.2 percent and more and more women are occupying the managerial and professional roles. However, they still get low wage increases and men still continue to dominate the higher-paying roles. 

Roles such as CXOs and software developers that have traditionally been associated with a higher salary are more likely to be filled by men. Thus, occupational differences are a major reason for about half of the pay gap. 

On a brighter note, women have progressed on the education front. While in 2002, only 36 percent of women in the workforce had a diploma, in 2018, the number of women with at least a diploma education rose to 71 percent, according to the study. 

The gender pay gap still remains a stark reality and the outlook 2020 could continue to remain bleak with the World Economic Forum predicting that it would take 257 years to completely bridge this gap.