Gender-Atypical Learning Experiences for Men Reduce Occupational Sex Segregation: Causal Evidence from the Suspension of the Civilian Service in Germany

Abstract

Occupational segregation is one of the primary mechanisms for gender inequalities in labor market outcomes and persists partly because men rarely enter female-dominated occupations. Social Cognitive Career Theory explains occupational segregation via a lack of learning experiences in gender-atypical tasks and several programs have been proposed to foster occupational integration by exposing individuals to gender-atypical learning experiences. However, research on men working in female-dominated occupations revealed positive as well as negative experiences made within them. As most studies do not account for potential self-selection into gender-atypical occupations, it is an open question whether and how exposure to female-dominated occupations affects men's occupational choices. In response, I exploit exogenous variation induced by the suspension of Germany’s civilian service in 2011. The civilian service was a social sector alternative to a compulsory military service. I describe selection into the civilian service based on cross-section data (AID:A 2009) to assess to whom a potential effect would apply. A difference-in-difference design leverages German social security insurance register data (SIAB) to compare birth cohorts of men before and after the suspension and employs women who were not eligible for compulsory services as a control group. The suspension of the civilian service decreased the likelihood of men to enter female-dominated occupations by two percentage points. This result indicates that programs exposing men to gender-atypical learning experiences can facilitate occupational integration.