ABSTRACT
Take a century-long view and think how best to summarize the change in the position of women in employment vis-à-vis men in industrialized countries. The chances are that you will come up with two very popular indicators, namely, the degree of occupational segregation and the gender wage gap. In order to illustrate secular trends in these indicators, take twomature economies sufficiently different in their development paths, state vs. market balances, levels of female employment and gender cultures. Your choice may well fall on the USA and Italy. Mine did, and Figures 9.1 and 9.2 contrast the trend in occupational gender segregation and in the female to male ratio in earnings over the past hundred years in these two countries. Although the respective patterns are different, they tell a similar and sufficiently clear story until the 1980s, namely, that women’s earnings rose considerably relatively to men’s only when segregation visibly weakened. Since the 1980s, however, the relation has de-coupled for Italy, with segregation (probably) diminishing and relative earnings barely growing, although they have remained fairly high.
