Institutional constraints on cross-national differences in occupational sex segregation

Abstract

As underlined in previous chapters, the distribution of women and men across occupations and hierarchical positions will differ across countries, as these vary with respect to educational, economic, political and cultural factors. These different institutional arrangements may shape resources, and influence preferences of individuals for a specific occupation or position as well as of employers for a specific applicant (Chafetz 1990, Molm 1993, Charles and Grusky 2004). Even though the above described interdependence between individual occupational choices and the institutional context is obvious, it has rarely been examined empirically. Prior comparative studies, frequently, content themselves with descriptive analyses of the relation between sex segregation indices and selected macro-level factors (see, for example Estévez-Abe 2005).

Parts of this chapter have been developed for an article (together with Emer Smyth) in the framework of the Field-of-Study Group of the EUQALSOC network. I would like to thank particularly Emer Smyth, Herman van de Werfhorst, Luis-André Vallé and David Reimer for their helpful and inspiring ideas and comments on this work.