Gender and Teachers' Attrition: The Occupational Destination of Former Teachers

Abstract

Based on the resources-rewards model and on the sex segregation perspective, the study was designed to examine gender differences in teachers' attrition by comparing three groups: teachers who remained in the educational system, teachers who left the labor market, and teachers who left teaching and entered other occupations. The study also addressed the type of occupations into which former teachers moved. The sample was 2,108 teachers who participated in the censuses of 1983 and 1995 and are represented in the inter-generation dataset of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. The findings indicated that one-third of the teachers did not continue teaching. Most of them moved to other occupations. Gender was found to be related to teachers' attrition and to their occupational destination. The data support the sex segregation perspective and suggest that working in a female-dominated occupation has different implications for women's and men's attrition and patterns of changing occupations, which contribute to maintaining the sex segregation structure in the labor market.

Gender and ethnic differences in occupational positions and earnings among nurses and engineers in Norway: identical educational choices, unequal outcomes

“…Supporting this notion, Abrahamsen (2004) found that with the passage of time, male Norwegians leave nursing positions that involve direct care. Addi-Raccah (2005) reported similar findings for Israeli men in teaching, and Jacobs's (1993) analyses of census data suggested that men's presence in femaletraditional jobs tends to be of short duration. In summary, these research contributions suggest that even though some men pursue an education in female-traditional subjects, their likelihood of being employed in the occupation corresponding with their education is lower than that of women with the same type of education because men have the 'token' status.…”

Teachers’ Trust in Role Partners, Intention to Continue in Teaching, and Schools Social Composition in Israel

“…Similar findings were found in other studies. It can be suggested that teachers in Israel with lower levels of education may be less able to cope with the intensifying demands of the occupation (Addi-Raccah, 2005; Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008; Shapira-Lishchinsky & Rosenblatt, 2009). On the whole, based on the canonical correlation square the discriminant function explains 33.1% of the variance of intention to continue teaching.…”

Are the Processes Underlying Discrimination the Same for Women and Men? A Critical Review of Congruity Models of Gender Discrimination

“…One possible explanation for these patterns is that the perceived incongruity between gender and occupation leads to higher attrition rates, as CMDs would predict. Supporting these predictions, there is evidence that men who leave female-typed domains are more likely to move into gender-balanced and male-dominated careers, even when this move results in a pay cut (Barnett et al, 2000; Addi-Raccah, 2005; Riegle-Crumb et al, 2016; Torre, 2018). It has been argued that this leaky pipeline may be due, at least in part, to a general culture within these domains that signals to men that they do not fit (O’Lynn, 2004; Simpson, 2004; Kermode, 2006; Bartfay et al, 2010; Isacco and Morse, 2015).…”

“…However, when considered together, many of these studies offer indirect support for CMDs. For example, men desert female-dominated college majors and occupations at significantly higher rates than women ( Addi-Raccah, 2005 ; Stott, 2007 ; McLaughlin et al, 2010 ; Riegle-Crumb et al, 2016 ). This phenomenon appears to be analogous to what has been termed the “leaky pipeline,” referring to the comparatively higher rate of female attrition in male-typed domains (e.g., Cheryan et al, 2017 ; Department of Commerce of the United States of America, 2017 ).…”