The Supply Side Of Occupational Sex Segregation

Abstract

While gender was previously thought to be one of the largest mitigating factors in application decisions among equally qualified graduates, this study found that an even more powerful motivator might be the applicants' parenthood status or the timeline in which they plan to have children. With this factor included, this study found significant differences in the weekly hours and salaries of parents. Another notable finding is that this study demonstrated that women are receiving either equal or higher pay in nearly all of the fields for which information was collected, and the surface level analysis that showed a negative correlation between being a women and salary is actually a factor of more women choosing lower paying fields (like human resources). This study demonstrates that previous research of gendered pay biases and the roots of occupational sex segregation are possibly outdated and incorrect.