The topic of sexual segregation in the workplace has been extensively studied. Throughout this essay I will introduce the historic trends of occupational segregation by sex, the present status of women in the labour market, and future predictions relevant to this idea. I will also discuss the reasons for these trends of segregation, and the linear progression of attitudes towards this discriminatory treatment of women at work.
In order to ensure a fair and consistent study on this topic, one has to ensure that a variety of different industries are examined. Thus the realization or ultimate rejection of the accepted view that women enter and occupy specific occupations (as will be explained later in detail), can only be truly identified and highlighted once a large enough number of different industries have been examined. Once this has been done the relative reasons for the trends established can be explored, which not only provides material of interest to this study but it also serves as a useful tool in investigating the implications of occupational segregation by sex.
On a micro level, I will investigate the effect of segregation on women, i.e. effect on how men view women and on how women view themselves. This in turn negatively affects women's status and income and, consequently, many social variables such as mortality and morbidity, poverty and income inequality. The persistence of gender stereotypes also has negative effects on education and training and thus causes gender-based inequalities to be perpetuated into future generations.
On a macro level, one has to realize the importance of occupational segregation by sex as part of a labour market phenomenon, with regards to equality, efficiency and social justice. The main concerns of segmentation by sex relate to labour market rigidity and economic inefficiency. The barriers to entry of a majority of a potential workforce from a majority of occupations, is detrimental to an economy’s ability to change; will increase a labour market’s inflexibility and is wasteful of human resources. This is magnified in importance with the intensification of international competition and globalized production. With all of this in mind, I will refer to statistics and case studies of specific countries gained from research by individuals, as well as larger scale samplings like censuses and broad based research methods. With these facts I will compare the relative levels of occupational segregation within each country and also attempt to realize the reasons for the figures attained.
Firstly, it is important to gain a definition of occupational segregation, in order to firstly understand what is actually being referred to in all the data gathered and research collected, but also to eradicate any fallacies or misrepresentations one may hold to perceive the implications of occupational segregation. The most basic understanding of the term occupational segregation is the disproportionate number of women in “women’s” jobs to men in “men’s” jobs. (Millward and Woodland.) This idea underlines a pre-determined assumption held by the vast majority of society possibly since the creation of man, that women are fit and suitable to enter only certain jobs and are excluded from a majority of occupations, solely for the reasons that such positions are reserved for male workers. This segregation occurs both ‘horizontally’ and ‘vertically’, ‘terms used to distinguish the situation where men and women are most commonly working in different types of occupation from those where they are working in different grades of occupation’. (Cockburn; Hakim 1979). So, an example of ‘horizontal segregation’, i.e. when women are segregated into entirely different occupations to men, is, women can be nurses and secretaries and men can be bus divers and computer technicians. Whereas for ‘vertical’ segregation, i.e. where women are restricted to levels of authority which men can reach, within the same organization, is, women can be production workers and men can be production managers. In reality, statistics demonstrating how segregated the labour market is. “Women are about 67% of the labour force in retail distribution and repair of consumer goods- even though this category includes vehicle repair… and in 1986 in Britain men were 89% of the occupational groups ‘general managerial’ and 91% of ‘professional and related in science, engineering and technology.” (ibid.). In the USSR census for 1970, 98% of nurses and nursery school personnel, as well as 99% of stenographers and 91% of catering employees were female.
As mentioned above the whole idea of occupational segregation by sex is not a new occurrence in the workplace. Throughout history there is repeated evidence of examples of segregation.
“there can be little doubt that the extent of occupational segregation is an important indicator of women’s economic status in the labour market“.