Bar chart — Male and female workers in Country A and Country B

The two bar charts illustrate how male and female workers are distributed across agriculture, industry and services in two countries, labelled A and B.

Overall, agriculture is the largest employer in Country A, whereas the workforce of Country B is overwhelmingly engaged in services. In both countries, a far larger proportion of men than of women work in industry.

In Country A, agriculture is the main source of work for both sexes, employing 57% of women and 43% of men, a difference of 14 percentage points. Services come next and show no gender gap at all, at 33% for each sex. Industry is the smallest sector here, and men are more than twice as likely as women to work in it (24% compared with 10%).

The picture in Country B is in stark contrast. Services absorb the vast majority of female workers, at 87%, and almost two-thirds of male workers, at 63%. Industry accounts for 33% of men but only 11% of women, a ratio of exactly three to one. Agriculture, the leading sector in Country A, is of marginal importance, at just 4% of men and 2% of women. Comparing the two countries, a larger share of men work in industry in Country B, while the female figures are almost identical.