ABSTRACT
Occupational sex segregation is a significant feature of employment that has been shown to have negative consequences for the position of women in many countries. Lower earnings (both for men and for women) and unequal access to authority, on-the-job training, promotions, and lateral transfers within firms, as well as physical and social distance in the workplace, are all associated with employment in female-typed occupations (Reskin 1984; Roos 1981; Taylor et at. 1986). Explanations of the origins and persistence of occupational sex segregation include discrimination and women's own choices (see England 1992 for a detailed review). Explanations of change in occupational sex segregation include changing structural features of the social organization of work (Oppenheimer 1970; Reskin and Roos 1990; Williams 1979) and changing demographic characteristics of the labor force (Beller 1984; Lewis 1985). The findings reported below follow the latter tradition (Gwartney-Gibbs 1988).
