This study untangles the complex interplay of individual and contextual factors shaping cross-national differences in horizontal and vertical occupational sex segregation. It relates the individual factors affecting occupational decisions to the broader social and economic context within a given society. Following this approach, Stephanie Steinmetz provides a comprehensive overview of the development and causes of cross-national differences in occupational sex segregation. She offers insights into the positioning of 21 EU Members States, particularly of former CCE countries. Based on advanced multi-level models, the study shows that institutional factors, such as the organization of educational systems, post-industrial developments, social policies, and the national ‘gender culture’, play a crucial role in shaping sex segregation processes apart from individual factors. The author clarifies that a distinct set of institutional factors is relevant to each of the two dimensions of occupational sex segregation and that these factors operate in different directions: some reduce horizontal segregation while at the same time aggravating the vertical aspect. Finally, the study assesses the empirical findings from a political perspective by addressing the future contextual challenges of EU Member States seeking to attain higher gender equality on the labour market.

How pervasive is sex segregation in the workplace? Does the concentration of women into a few professions reflect their personal preferences, the "tastes" of employers, or sex-role socialization? Will greater enforcement of federal antidiscrimination laws reduce segregation? What are the prospects for the decade ahead? These are among the important policy and research questions raised in this comprehensive volume, of interest to policymakers, researchers, personnel directors, union leadersâ€"anyone concerned about the economic parity of women.

First published in 1994, Locating Gender combines a case-study approach with significant theoretical development to challenge explanations of occupational segregation. It examines the diversity of women’s employment experience, gender segregation within employment establishments, employment and domestic relations, and the place of gender in perceptions of inequality. The book develops the concepts of component-wage and full-wage jobs in the context of work histories and employment relations, and establishes their usefulness in the study of the social adequacy of wages. In doing so, it provides a close and critical examination of the power of gender as an explanatory concept in employment and domestic relations, including an in-depth analysis of the circumstances prior to, and following, changes to eliminate sex discrimination from official practices in a particular workplace. It will be of interest to students and researchers of gender studies, the sociology of work and social stratification, social policy, business studies, and labour economics.

Even though women have made substantial progress in a number of formerly male occupations, sex segregation in the workplace remains a fact of life. This volume probes pertinent questions: Why has the overall degree of sex segregation remained stable in this century? What informal barriers keep it in place? How do socialization and educational practices affect career choices and hiring patterns? How do family responsibilities affect women's work attitudes? And how effective is legislation in lessening the gap between the sexes? Amply supplemented with tables, figures, and insightful examination of trends and research, this volume is a definitive source for what is known today about sex segregation on the job.

This user-friendly manual, which can be used as a self-learning or as a teaching tool, guides readers through all stages in producing data on occupational concentration and segregation. It clarifies concepts and measures, discusses quality and availability of information, and reviews various methodological tools, using well-known statistical software packages. It should be of interest to researchers and analysts of occupational data.

This book investigates the contexts of gender segregation in vocational education (VET) from a cross-national, comparative perspective. It tackles questions about occupational expectations, gendered pathways to applied fields of study, feminization of occupations and the relationship between educational choice and opportunity structures.

Women in the industrialized world now form a major part of the labour force, and yet they typically work in female occupational ghettos and segregated firms. This study raises crucial questions about how and why this has taken place, identifying the dynamics at work.

For much of the twentieth century, women lagged considerably behind men in their educational attainment. However, in recent decades, young women have become an important source of human capital for labor markets in modern societies, as well as potential competitors to the male workforce. This book asks whether or not women have been able to convert their educational success into gains on the labor market. The expert contributors address the topic on a comparative level with discussions centred on gendered school-to-work transitions and gendered labor market outcomes. Thereafter they analyze the country-specific implications of the gender redress from a wide range of countries including the USA, Russia and Australia. This enlightening book will appeal to graduates and postgraduates studying social policy, education, the labor market, inequality and gender. It will also be of interest to experts in the fields of sociology, education, political science and economics and those interested in educational research.

This book provides a dynamic and contextualized account of how young people's lives are shaped by economic instability and uncertainty.