Gender segregation and stratification in European labour markets

To account for the persistence of gender inequalities in the labour market, attention has been directed at gender segregation of occupations. In particular, women’s under-representation in high-skill/high-wage occupations and over-representation in low-skill/low-wage occupations, known as vertical gender segregation. But to explain phenomena such as the gender wage gap one must also analyze horizontal segregation, i.e. women’s under-representation in particular occupational fields or sectors of the economy and their over-representation in others, constituting a labor market where a significant segment consists of typical male and female occupations. Both forms of gender segregation persist in all European countries.
The overall aim of the project is to further increase our understanding on labour market gender inequality by studying trends, patterns and consequences of both horizontal and vertical gender segregation in European countries. More detailed studies of vertical and horizontal gender segregation require large data sets. Apart from using EU-LFS we therefore also intend to harmonize national data sources from Germany, Sweden, and in one case Turkey. The following studies form the core of this project: 1)Trends in gender segregation in fields of study and occupations, 2) Trends in gender differences in the labour market elite, 3) Cross-national variation in the association between the gender wage gap and the level of occupational gender segregation, 4) Occupational gender segregation, occupational prestige and wages, 5) Feminization of particular fields and labour market rewards, 6) Service sector employment and gender inequality in comparative perspective, 7) Gender differences in employment/occupational returns to post-graduate degrees, and 8) Gender segregation in Academia.