Investigating the Gender Wealth Gap Across Occupational Classes

Abstract

This study examines the role of occupational classes in the Gender Wealth Gap (GWG). Despite rising interest in gender differences in wealth, the central role of occupations in restricting and enabling its accumulation has been neglected thus far. Drawing on the German Socio-Economic Panel, this study employs quantile regressions and decomposition techniques. It finds explanatory power of occupational classes for the gender wealth gap, which exists despite accounting for other labor-market-relevant parameters, such as income, tenure, and full-time work experience at different points of the wealth distribution. Wealth gaps by gender vary between and within occupational classes. Particularly, women’s underrepresentation among the self-employed and overrepresentation among sociocultural professions explain the GWG in Germany. The study thus adds another dimension of stratification – occupational class – to the discussion on the gendered distribution of wealth. HIGHLIGHTS Women’s lower full-time work experience and income drive the overall gender wealth gap. Occupational classes explain more of the gender wealth gap than family or workplace characteristics. Gender wealth differences are largest among self-employed and managerial classes. The gap exists even among female-dominated sociocultural professions.