9.1: Segregation in the Workplace

Occupational sex segregation refers to the degree in which men and women are concentrated in occupations in which workers of one sex predominate. For example, we will discuss in this chapter how women continue to dominate nursing and elementary school teaching. Gender stereotypes have been used as justifications for hiring women for secretarial, domestic, clerical, and health services professions. One instance of this stereotype is illustrated in the idea that women’s natural dexterity and compliant personalities made the ideal for office work.

Industry sex segregation occurs when women and men hold the same job title in a particular field or industry, but actually perform different jobs. More often than not, women are placed in the lower paying and less prestigious occupations. For example, women being hired in the mining industry are usually concentrated in the laboring jobs, which is the lowest level of mining, typically involving mine maintenance.

Establishment sex segregation occurs when women and men hold the same job title at an individual establishment or company, but actually do different jobs. Women’s jobs are usually lower paid and less prestigious. It is not uncommon for women at a law firm to be concentrated in the family law division while men dominate more lucrative corporate and commercial law department.

More than fifty years after the second wave of feminism, we have seen huge strides toward gender equality. Women are working in nearly all occupations that once were exclusively the reserved for men, and many are in prominent leadership roles in business and government. Yet, sex segregation in the workplace remains a problem as social norms continue to restrict occupational choices for women and men.

Despite the early gains of women in professional and service jobs that require a college education, many such occupations remain disproportionately male, particularly at the highest levels. Furthermore, most technical and manual "blue-collar" jobs have undergone little to no integration since the 1970s.

Traditional economic theory explained occupational segregation by sex or gender as an inevitable consequence of “natural differences” in skills between women and men, but contemporary economists have refocused the explanation on gender discrimination by employers, coworkers, and other actors. Despite a decline in explicit sexism, gender discrimination today, whether in the form of stereotypes or social pressures, is perpetuated by a new, “egalitarian” form of gender essentialism—the belief that women and men’s social, economic, and familial roles are and should be fundamentally different. While most people now support women’s access to all economic opportunities, they simultaneously expect men and women to pursue traditionally “male” and “female” jobs and regard parenting as the primary responsibility of mothers.