Occupational segregation is the distribution of workers across and within occupations, based upon demographic characteristics, most often gender. More types of occupational segregation include racial and ethnicity segregation, and sexual orientation segregation. These demographic characteristics often intersect. While a job refers to an actual position in a firm or industry, an occupation represents a group of similar jobs that require similar skill requirements and duties. Many occupations are segregated within themselves because of the differing jobs, but this is difficult to detect in terms of occupational data. Occupational segregation compares different groups and their occupations within the context of the entire labor force. The value or prestige of the jobs are typically not factored into the measurements. Occupational segregation levels differ on a basis of perfect segregation and integration. Perfect segregation occurs where any given occupation employs only one group. Perfect integration, on the other hand, occurs where each group holds the same proportion of positions in an occupation as it holds in the labor force. Many scholars, such as Biblarz et al., argue that occupational segregation often occurs in patterns, either horizontally (across occupations) or vertically (within the hierarchy of occupations) and is most likely caused by gender-based discrimination. However, in the past, occupational segregation with regard to race has not been well researched, with many studies choosing to compare two groups instead of multiple. Due to the fact that different genders of different racial/ethnic backgrounds experience different obstacles, measuring occupational segregation is more nuanced. Ultimately, occupational segregation results in wage gaps and the loss of opportunities for capable candidates who are overlooked because of their gender and race.
Types
Gender
The gendered division of labor helps to explain the hierarchy of power across gender identity, class, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Socialist feminists contribute to this ideology through a Marxist frame of alienated labor and the means of production. Heidi Hartmann emphasized the gendered division of labor as patriarchal control over women's labor. Wally Saccombe suggested the mode of production should become a unity of production and reproduction, in which women's reproductive abilities are viewed as a valuable source of labor or income. The "wages for housework" movement in the late 1970s showcased the importance of gender inequality in the workplace. Socialist feminists critiqued the exploitation of women's household and reproductive labor, since it was not viewed as a commodity that deserved payment in the market economy. Women often experience working a "double day" or "second shift" when they go to a wage-earning job and then come home to take care of children and the home. Researchers, policymakers, and the general public in North America tend to show more concern about the under-representation of women in STEM fields than the under-representation of men in care-oriented occupations such as healthcare, elementary education, and domestic careers (HEED).
Horizontal Horizontal segregation refers to differences in the number of people of each gender presents across occupations. Horizontal segregation is likely to be increased by post-industrial restructuring of the economy (post-industrial society), in which the expansion of service industries has called for many women to enter the workforce. The millions of housewives who entered the economy during post-industrial restructuring primarily entered into service-sector jobs where they could work part-time and have flexible hours. While these options are often appealing to mothers, who are often responsible for the care work of their children and their homes, they are also unfortunately most available in lower-paying and lower-status occupations. The idea that nurses and teachers are often pictured as women whereas doctors and lawyers are often assumed to be men are examples of how highly ingrained horizontal segregation is in our society.
Vertical The term vertical segregation describes men's domination of the highest status jobs in both traditionally male and traditionally female occupations. Colloquially, the existence of vertical segregation is referred to as allowing men to ride in a "glass escalator" through which women must watch as men surpass them on the way to the top positions. Generally, the less occupational segregation present in a country, the less vertical segregation there is because women have a better chance of obtaining the highest positions in a given occupation as their share of employment in that particular occupation increases. Vertical segregation can be somewhat difficult to measure across occupations because it refers to hierarchies within individual occupations. For example, the category of Education Professionals (a category in the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Second Edition) is broken down into "School Teachers," "University and Vocational Education Teachers," and "Miscellaneous Education Professionals." These categories are then further broken down into subcategories. While these categories aptly describe the divisions within education, they are not comparable to the hierarchical categories within other occupations, and thus make comparisons of levels of vertical segregation quite difficult.
Occupational segregation by industry Historically, women have been underrepresented in roles of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) worldwide. The countries with the three highest percentages of female graduates in STEM in recent years are Sint Maarten (Dutch part) (100% in 2017), Samoa (67% in 2021) and Myanmar (61% in 2018) and the countries with the lowest percentages are Afghanistan (13% in 2020), Andorra (12% in 2024), and Bermuda (8% in 2023).
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