Women in an Occupational Gender Segregation Global Labor Market

Despite the massive entry of women into the labor market, occupational gender segregation is a universal reality that occurs worldwide. Despite legislative frameworks of most countries in the world that seek to counter this trend, occupational gender segregation persists. Studying why is key to understanding gender inequality and the unequal affects on citizenship. The main consequence of the gender divide is that workers in male-dominated jobs receive higher salaries, thus perpetuating the gender wage gap and unequal working conditions. In addition, occupations with an over-representation of men have, on average, greater social recognition and more opportunities for promotion. Occupational segregation needs to be addressed by public policy because it is not improving; in fact, in come contexts, the occupational segregation index has increased.

This session invites scholars from around the world who are currently developing case-study research, statistical analysis and other methods on the following topics related to women in male-dominated professions: 1) access barriers and gendered closure mechanisms; 2) career abandonment; 3) coping mechanisms; 4) family-work-life balance; 5) pregnancy and maternity; 6) sexual harassment; 7) structural effects in relation to gender segregation (tokenism); 8) men in female-dominated jobs; and 9) the impact of the platform economy on care and domestic work sectors.