Description:

Speaker: Myera Rashid

Title: Occupational Gender Segregation

Abstract: Historically and today, one of the most pronounced differences between men and women’s labor market outcomes is their participation in different occupations. While this occupational segregation evolves over time with occupations becoming desegregated and resegregated, the dynamics underlying the shifts in segregation are not well understood. I develop an occupation choice model in which workers have gendered preferences over the observed gender share of an occupation and perceived non-wage amenities. In this model, exogenous shocks to demand for labor allow for changes in the initial gender composition which serves as a public signal allowing future generations of workers to update their beliefs about the occupation amenities. In my reduced form application, I build shocks to demand for labor across occupations using mass mobilization of male workers during World War II. Combining information from enlistment records and census data, preliminary results show that enlistment of workers led to increases in the participation of women in those labor markets. Consistent with the role of non-wage amenities, these effects varied by occupational characteristics.