Occupational Segregation by Sex: Determinants, Changes, and the Impact of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws

摘要

The study examines the determinants of the degree of occupational segregation by sex and its changes between 1967 and 1974 to test the human capital and the discrimination theories of occupational segregation. A model is developed and estimated, by OLS and logit techniques, relating the probability of being employed in a male-dominated occupation, for working women and men, to measures of human capital and labor supply. Changes in these probabilities between 1967 and 1974 are then related to measures of the enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the federal contract compliance program, considered to be inverse measures of discrimination. Most of the data come from the Annual Demographic Files of the Current Population Survey and the compliance files of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The findings provide little support for the human capital explanation, but considerable support for the discrimination explanation of occupational segregation.