Sex Segregation in the Workplace Trends, Explanations, Remedies (1984) / Chapter Skim
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13 Institutional Factors Contributing to Sex Segregation in the Workplace
13 Institutional Factors Contributing to Sex Segregation in the Workplace
Pages 235-260
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From page 235... ...
In economic terms, the former emphasizes the characteristics and choices of the labor supply; the latter claims gender discrimination in the labor market. Research guided by each perspective has shed light on the causes of the unequal distributions of the sexes across occupations, but neither workers' nor employers' preferences systematically assess how the organization of labor markets and the way work is carried out within establishments constrain the sexes' occupational outcomes.
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From page 236... ...
The barriers to mobility we identify reside primarily in firms' internal labor markets. Althauser and Kalleberg distinguish "firm internal labor markets" from "occupational internal labor markets" and "occupational labor markets," the last of which lacks the internal labor market characteristics described above.
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Here training has the same function as "port of entry" positions in internal labor markets in providing access to a job ladder. The training that permits entry into occupational labor markets is available in a variety of settings.
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From page 238... ...
Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, 1981; Walshok, 1981a)
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From page 239... ...
Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, 1981:34, 411. Another factor hampering women-e selection into apprenticeships is that they are unlikely to have completed vocationally relevant programs in high school and are often unfamiliar with the tools, procedures, and terminology used in blue-collar work.
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From page 240... ...
They are of two types: firm-based limitations for certain kinds of jobs and restrictions on women's access to certain occupational labor markets. Several firm-based limitations restrict the sexes' 5 This problem affects all workers.
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Because transferring across internal labor markets is very difficult, if not impossible (see the next section) , statistical discrimination has long-lasting implications for women's occupational outcomes.
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Special programs often succeed in placing women in nontraditional jobs. For example, 40 percent of the women in nontraditional blue-collar occupations whom Walshok (1981a)
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Access to traditionally male jobs is also impaired by what Newman (1976:272) characterized as "sex bias in machinery design." Because of sex differences in physical size, some women may find it difficult to use machines designed for men.
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Even women who are employed in such nontraditional sectors as the military typically work in what are traditionally female jobs outside the military. Considering how this comes about is instructive.
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White-Collar Workers Sex differences in access to information and recruiting networks, entrance restrictions, and the allocation of men and women to sex-typical entry-level jobs also contribute to sex segregation among white-colIar workers. Access to Information and Recruitment Networks Occupational sex segregation persists in white-colIar jobs in part because information networks are sex segregated.
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From page 246... ...
They do this by hiring those whose socialization and backgrounds resemble those of members of the organization and by fostering unobtrusive controls that structure people's work attitudes and behavior (Perrow, 1979:152; Smith and Grenier, 19821. i4 Finally, firms with highly structured internal labor markets face more serious potential consequences of a hiring error.
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College textbook publishing fllustrates the general pattern of sex differences in initial job assignment. According to Caplette (p.
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INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING MOBILITY INTO SEX-TYPICAL AND SEXATYPICAL JOBS Lee recognition that workers' mobility opportunities are governed by internal labor markets that exist within firms or occupations (or both; Althauser and Kalleberg, 1981) is critical for identifying institutional barriers to women's mobility into and advancement within sex-atypical jobs.
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From page 249... ...
is Workers transferring across seniority units may lose their seniority and are vulnerable to layoffs (Kelley, 1981:51. In keeping with narrow seniority units, rules may limit job bidding to members of the unit and job openings may be posted only in the department or work areas frequented by workers in the job sequence.
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A case study of promotion under New York State's civil service system by the New York State Commission on Management and Productivity in the Public Sector (1977) showed how career ladders perpetuate sex segregation.
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Some companies have restructured their internal labor markets to increase women's employment opportunities, partly in response to federal enforcement efforts (Shaeffer and Lynton, 1979:34; O'Farrell and Harlan, this volume)
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to persuade blue-collar women to apply for traditionally male jobs. The dropout rate for women recruited for blue-collar jobs in this manner was very high, especially in jobs that required heavy physical labor or had undesirable working conditions (p.
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identified lack of organizational support as an important barrier to women's employment in nontraditional work: missing at the industrial plant she studied were any special recruitment programs to inform women about the nature and advantages of nontraditional jobs, transition programs to ease the shift into nontraclitional employment, and support on the job for women experiencing difficulty. Other organizational practices, which cannot be thoroughly examined here because of space constraints, foster or hinder women's retention in sex-atypical jobs.
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Studies of women in forestry, mining, construction, and other outdoor jobs (Enarson, 1980; Bales and White, 1981; U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, 1981; Walshok, 1981a)
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The recognition that inadequate child care constitutes a barrier to women's employment is recent, at least among lawmakers. Not until 1978 did Congress, in an amendment to TitIe VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (U.S.
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From page 256... ...
Investigating barriers to women's job opportunities that are institutionalized in the labor market and the organization of work is valuable in identifying useful areas for future inquiry and essential for developing intervention strategies. Empirical studies that document sex differences in access to employment information, the allocation of the sexes to "sex-appropriate" employment, the sexes' differential location in job clusters, barriers to women's access to entry-level positions on high-prestige job ladclers, and so forth will help us better understand how internal labor markets operate and how they might be modified to work to women's arlvantage.
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Kalleberg 1981 "Firms, occupations, and the structure of labor markets: a conceptual analysis." Pp.
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11-47 in Ivar Berg (ed.) , Soci ological Perspectives on Labor Markets.
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1977 "Internal labor markets and the employment of women in complex organizations." Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. Strober, Myra 1982 '1he MBA: same passport to success for women and men?
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U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1981 Child Care and Equal Opportunity for Women.
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