The Sectors of Activity and Occupations of Gay and Lesbian People. Evidence from a French Survey

Despite an increase in research on homosexuality in recent decades in France, it is still difficult to characterize gay and lesbian populations using general population surveys. It is rarely possible to obtain a sample of sufficient size that is representative of the general population, along with appropriate indicators of homosexuality that are required by such analysis. This communication proposes a novel approach based on data from the Family and Housing (Famille et logements) survey conducted in 2011 (n = 379 770) in association with the French census. This survey enabled us to study the sectors of activity and occupations of gay and lesbians who report being in union (including LAT people). Our analysis highlights the high levels of education among women and men in same-sex unions and upward mobility, as well as the specific features of their occupational profiles. Gay and lesbians are over-represented in sectors characterized by equal number of men and women and are less present in highly genre-segregated categories that are numerically dominated by their own sex. In this regard, the gender divide is smaller. This survey also enables to study geographical mobility. The individual situations observed also reveal strong geographical mobility characterized by a pronounced distancing from family origins and a frequent attraction to large towns and cities, among men more than women. Social mobility and geographical mobility combine differently, depending on the individuals' social origins. Social mobility is especially characteristic of men and women from the middle and working classes, and goes hand in hand with geographical mobility. Gay men from the upper classes are no different from other men from the upper classes in terms of educational trajectories, but are more frequently attracted to the Paris region, and even more so Paris itself.