Gender segregation by occupations in the public and the private sectors : the case of Spain in 1977 and 1992

Abstract

In many countries, non-discriminatory recruiting procedures, as well as other job characteristics, make public sector employment especially attractive to women. In the first empirical paper comparing gender segregation in the public and the private sectors, an additively decomposable segregation index based on the entropy concept is applied to Spanish data for the 1977-1992 period. It is found that during this period the gender segregation related to sector choices is larger in the public sector. But this is offset by the fact that gender segregation induced by occupational choices is larger within the private sector. The difference in occupational gender segregation between the two sectors is mainly accounted for gender composition effects in 1977 and occupational mix effects in 1992.