Joint Seminar in Economic History and HELP Economics

Myera Rashid (NU): How Occupations Become Gendered: Social Learning and the Long-Run Evolution of Women's Labor

Abstract: Women’s labor force participation in the US grew steadily over the past century and a half. Yet some occupations remained predominantly male while others shifted to become predominantly female. This paper argues that social learning about non-wage amenities helped shape occupations’ long-term gender composition. I propose an equilibrium model of occupational choice in which women learn about occupational amenities through work experience and social learning. The model shows how temporary shocks that induce women to enter previously untested occupations can permanently change their gender composition when entrants discover favorable amenities and transmit that information to subsequent cohorts. I test the implications of the model using variation in mass mobilization rates of men across local occupations during World War II. Occupation-by-county cells that lost more men to the draft had greater employment of women concentrated in occupations with higher female-valued amenities, including low physical demands and greater schedule flexibility. Consistent with the role of social learning, women too young to respond directly to wartime labor demand sorted into occupations with greater female-valued amenities in which their older sisters and female neighbors remained employed.

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