The role of educational choice in occupational gender segregation: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes.You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. licence. www.econstor.eu IZA DP No. 3549 The Role of Educational Choice in Occupational Gender Segregation: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated Sandra Sookram Eric Strobl D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S Section I: IntroductionThe segregation of men and women into different occupations continues to be one of the most enduring aspects of labour markets in both developed and developing countries alike.Importantly such occupational segregation has substantial consequences for gender discrimination since 'female type' jobs are generally characterized by lower pay and worse working conditions. In this paper we explicitly examine the role of educational choices on occupational gender segregation in the context of such a supply-side policy using the case study of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). More specifically, while the T&T Constitution forbids discrimination based on gender, but without defining it 3 , there had been no explicit legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment prior to 2000. Furthermore, from a more general perspective one should note that Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory of the 2000 Dakar Framework for Action and thus has committed itself to attaining certain goals, two of which in particular are the need for equitable access to education for females and the elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education. Given that other studies have shown that gender discrimination in the labour market in T&T is considerable 6 , the education policy changes implemented provide a good case study with which to assess whether such policies coincide with changes in occupational segregation.women for work of equal value, but did not introduce any national legislation to ensure the implementation of the guidelines of these. 5 While the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution did forbid discrimination based on gender, it contained no explicit definition. 6 For example, the study on wage discrimination by Olsen and Coppin (2001) showed that in 1993 the ...

More than ‘Mutual Information’: Educational and sectoral gender segregation and their interaction on the Flemish labor market

“…In contrast, this paper employs an analytical connection between occupational (or sectoral) and educational segregation indices, which is established via the joint distribution of both characteristics and an associated 'total segregation measure' (with educational and occupational indices being based on the respective marginal distributions of gender types over these two categories). A similar construct with different segregation measures appears in Borghans and Groot (1999), who study the trajectory from educational 'presorting' to observed occupational or sectoral segregation and apply this framework to Dutch data (see also Sookram and Strobl, 2009). However, they use the Karmel-MacLachlan index (1988) as a point of departure, which inhibits some less desirable properties, and entails a somewhat intricate decomposition of the trajectory from educational segregation, over total segregation (via counting 'additional segregation' and correcting for 'reintegration'), to occupational/sectoral segregation (see also Flückiger and Silber (1999, p. 135-137), who additionally discuss a multidimensional extension of the Gini segregation measure).…”

Race-based Educational, Occupational and Industry Segregation and Wages Gaps in Trinidad and Tobago

“…This is the focus of the second research sub-question. For this part of the analysis, this study follows the methodology developed by Borghans and Groot (1999), which was also applied in Sookram and Strobl (2009). ATTs and ITTs with educational attainment levels typical for their own racial group may work in similar occupations, thus compensating for their educational segregation by reintegrating (R).…”

He's a Chip Off the Old Block — The Persistence of Occupational Choices Across Generations

“…Andersen et al, 2009;Bennedsen et al, 2007;Lins et al, 2013;Villalonga and Amit, 2006) and to papers that investigate the impact of labor market conditions and individual characteristics, such as gender and personality traits on occupational choice (see e.g. Anker, 1997;Drost, 2002;Kleinjans, 2010;Polachek, 1981;Robertson and Symons, 1990;Sookram and Strobl, 2009).…”