Sex Segregation in the Workplace

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  • Barbara Reskin
    Department of Sociology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210

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<jats:p> This chapter reviews research on the segregation of women and men in the workplace. After examining ways to measure segregation, I summarize trends in sex segregation in the United States and cross-nationally. Occupational segregation has declined since 1970, but most workers remain in sex segregated jobs. I then evaluate the empirical support for explanations for segregation. Demand-side explanations include employers' preferences, the demand for workers, economic pressures, discrimination, and personnel practices. Supply-side explanations include the size of the labor supply, the neoclassical human-capital explanation, gender-role socialization, workers' values, and the opportunity structure. I conclude that a variety of social and economic forces operate both to perpetuate and to reduce segregation. However, workplace segregation is an important mechanism in sex stratification, and a stratification perspective stresses the importance of demand-side factors. I call for research on sex segregation that examines the behavior of all labor market actors. </jats:p>

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