ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the interrelationships between the institutional characteristics of the educational and employment systems of France and West Germany, respectively, and the patterns of occupational career mobility of women. Occupational mobility in the Federal Republic is supervised and guaranteed by this occupational training system. The criterion of “education” is therefore more relevant for the occupational chances of a larger number of working people in the Federal Republic than in France. In France, differences between men and women with regard to educational resources are much smaller, but sex-related discrimination is especially accentuated. The chapter aims to develop some hypotheses concerning female career mobility. It investigates the “peculiarities” of female employment on the basis of an empirical analysis of discontinuity, skills, occupational segregation, and the role played by marital status. Especially considerable differences are to be found in the employment rates of Gymnasium or lycee graduates.
