Latin America remains the most unequal region on earth. An important feature of this problem is gender inequality in labor markets. Most studies that focus on this issue solely address the gender wage gap. This paper aims to correct for this bias by also addressing factors such as unemployment, formality of employment and underemployment in order to investigate if women fare worse according to other important labor market indicators. Ecuador is chosen as the setting of this study because it enjoys a relatively more flexible labor market structure than other Latin American countries. Using data from the 2005-06 Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida, a comprehensive household-level survey, this study finds that women fare worse in terms of wages and formality of employment in Ecuador’s labor market. We argue that increasing access to education for girls is unlikely to make significant differences in addressing these problems. Moreover, our preferred econometric methodology indicates that the gender wage gap is mainly due to discrimination against women, which suggests that only effective equal pay legislation can begin to bridge the problem. We also argue that gaps in formality of employment could be better addressed by policies that help communities share more of the responsibilities associated with household responsibilities.