Occupational Segregation Essay

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Occupational segregation is the division of labor as a result of which men and women or different ethnicities are channelled into different types of occupational roles. In occupational segregation, there are two subdivisions. vertical job segregation, where male employees are concentrated in the higher-status and better-paid positions, and horizontal job segregation where the different sexes or ethnic groups work in different types of occupations. Occupational segregation by sex is widespread in all industrialized countries. While some occupations have become increasingly equal over time, others remain highly dominated by either gender.
Over the last century, there has been stability in occupational segregation. There were declines in occupational …show more content…

The authors make the point that jobs affect their earnings, access to health care, working conditions, social status and social advancement and therefore, when your race, gender and ethnicity affects what job you can get, it affects every aspect of life. Reskin and Cassirer discuss their findings. They wanted to find the joint effects of race, ethnicity and race on occupational segregation (Reskin 1996). They broke up the participants into groups based on race, ethnic background and sex. They compared two of the groups in specific occupations and measure the segregation they experienced. In short, what they found was that men and women are still categorized into different occupations. They discovered that racial segregation also occurs. But they do state that gender is still the basis that channels different people into different jobs, but it is by no means the only basis. (Reskin 1996). In my research, i focused only on gender, but as these two authors found, it is not the only …show more content…

Maume Jr.’s article Occupational Segregation and the Career Mobility of White Men and Women, discusses occupational segregation and career mobility. Maume states that “for men, a 1% increase in the percentage of males in their occupation increases the log odds of receiving a wage promotion by .006. This supports the notion that occupations with large number of men constitute present positions within the economy that benefit men; women derive no career benefits from placement in male-dominated occupation” (Maume 1999). Women have a hard time advancing in male dominated careers. The author also points out that women have a hard time competing with men for the same jobs and often don 't stay in their jobs in male dominated fields. “The log odds of leaving the origin job increase by .006 for women as the percentage of males in the occupation rises by 1 percent. Women who work with a large number of male colleges are likely to suffer from isolation, performance pressure, and harassment, leading to increased rates of job exit. Unlike men, as the percentage of males in an increased, women do not move up the career ladder, but rather move out of these positions” (Maume 1999). Job segregation leads to women not feeling comfortable in male dominated occupations, causing them to have to leave their jobs and have very little to no mobility in their careers. Men almost always have career mobility even if they are in competition with other males, but women don 't. Women leave

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