What Is Occupational Segregation And How Does It Feed Gender Inequity?

Welcome to my weekly Q&A roundup. (Scroll down to find the Q&A.) 

If this is your first time here, welcome. I spend a fair amount of time speaking at events and conferences. At the end of my presentations, I leave space for audience members to ask questions—tough questions, brave questions, you name it. The level of candor and curiosity always inspires me, and I want to share that sentiment with you. So each week, I pick one question that I believe others would find most instructive and publish my response to it here. 

The purpose of this weekly tradition is transparency and inclusion. 

• Transparency: a behind-the-scenes look at my day-to-day. 
• Inclusion: bringing others along on the journey.

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The Gendered Economics of Occupational Segregation 

Question:

I heard the term occupational segregation used during a meeting for our women’s ERG. Was too embarrassed to ask, what does it mean?

Answer:

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Recovery Administration to usher in an era of equitable labor standards. Think: minimum wages, collective bargaining, maximum working hours, etc. 

Of all the wage codes set by the National Recovery Administration, more than 25% of them specified lower wages for women than men.

Moreover, the jobs created by the Works Progress Administration (Roosevelt’s ambitious infrastructure plan) restricted women’s labor market opportunities to lower-paying fields like sewing and nursing. 

This conspicuous display of inequity occurred at a time when only 15% of Americans believed women should have full-time jobs outside the home. So in a way, it fit with the cultural climate of the time. Now surely conditions have changed and our economy values the labor of all genders, races, and ethnicities equitably, right? 

Not so fast.  

Occupational segregation—and the wage inequity that accompanies it, continues to shape economic outcomes for millions of Americans. It’s worth exploring in more detail, so let’s dive in. 

What Is Occupational Segregation?

When a certain demographic over- or under-indexes in a specific job field, we call it occupational segregation. Since you asked about the connection between occupational segregation and gender equity, let’s focus on gender as the demographic demarcation. (Note: occupational stratification occurs across racial, ethnic, and intersectional lines too.)

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