OCCUPATION SEGREGATION

Occupation Segregation amongst Women

Occupational segregation Amongst Women

Introduction

The systematic oppression of women is a remarkable and tragic fact of history. Limited to narrow areas of activity in the life of society, denied educational opportunities and human rights, victims of violence, and often treated as less than human, women have been prevented from realizing its true potential. Age patterns of age, of subordination, reflected in popular culture, literature and art, law, and even religious scriptures, continue to invade every aspect of life. Despite the promotion of civil and political rights of women in the United States and the widespread acceptance of equality in principle, full equality has not been achieved.

Discussion

The clustering of women and men in different occupations is a prominent feature of the employment structure and a significant dimension of gender inequality. Indeed, the observation of high levels of occupational gender segregation over most of this century has prompted many economists, sociologists and others to reconsider commonly accepted arguments concerning the dynamics of allocating employment (Miller 1989, 885-896). There is much theoretical interest in uncovering the social processes that result in gendered employment distributions, and given the concern to develop effective policy mechanisms to combat gender inequality in the labor market this interest has a sharp practical edge. Occupational segregation in itself entails inequalities and it provides a basis for their perpetuation. . For example, it is argued to be one of the foundations of the gap in wages between women and men, and, as many have noted, policy initiatives targeting gendered inequalities in wages (such as equal pay legislation) are effectively inoperative in the context of a gender-segregated employment structure

As of 1968 the income of women working full-time, year-round was 58 percent of that received by males.' While such factors as continuity of labor force experience, type of education, or on-the-job training may explain a portion of this income differential, it is extremely difficult, given the data at hand, to estimate accurately just what portion can be so explained, and that is of course a very crucial question (Lopez et al 2009, 39-50).

Causes of Occupational Segregation

It can be proposed that it is discrimination against women in "masculine" (male dominated) occupations that plays the central role in explaining this occupational segregation and low relative wage. Assuming that discrimination takes the form of a preference for males over comparable females in masculine occupations, it results in a demand curve for women to the left of that which would prevail in this sector in a nondiscriminatory situation, thereby lowering female employment in masculine occupations. This reduced demand for women in the masculine sector increases their supply to those occupations in which males are not preferred to females thus creating (and maintaining) a "feminine" (female-dominated) sector (Lopez et al 2009, 39-50). Discrimination therefore directly lowers the female wage in masculine occupations by reducing demand for women in this sector, and indirectly lowers the female wage in feminine occupations by increasing their supply to this sector.

If the above analysis holds correct at its position, the ...