Horizontal Gender Segregation Research Articles

Media coverage of the impact of the war on gender segregation in the Ukrainian labor market

The article aims to outline the trends of gender professional segregation occurring in Ukraine during the military conflict. Materials and Methods. The research was carried out with the use of qualitative methods. A content analysis was chosen for this study. The material consists of online textual publications, which include interviews with managers, specialists, and employees of the State Employment Center. It also includes interviews in which women residing on the territory of Ukraine share their experiences of employment and work during the war. Results and Discussion. In Ukraine today, two factors operate in parallel. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to fill vacancies in professions that have traditionally been dominated by men. On the other hand, the financial situation of women is on the decline. Women are forced to rethink their gender identity in the family and in society because of financial difficulties and their inability to guarantee a minimum of financial stability for themselves and their families. This leads them to be willing to accept jobs with working conditions that are particularly harmful and difficult. Employment opportunities for women are increasing due to differentiated demand, which contributes to the reduction of horizontal gender segregation. One factor that impedes this process is the demand for professions traditionally considered women’s domains, which do not require basic skills, and for which demand increased during the war. These professions are mainly related to manufacturing and working specialties. Given that educated and skilled women occupy blue-collar jobs, we can expect vertical segregation to intensify during wartime, when gender differences are manifested in positions and roles with differing status or potential for advancement. In the area of state gender policy, Ukraine has business development initiatives that reduce the gender gap in women’s access to assets and capital to invest in profitable entrepreneurial industries. However, these initiatives only involve a limited number of women and cannot be associated with radical gender changes in society. At the same time, the positive aspects of reducing horizontal gender segregation observed in Ukraine during wartime may be negated by the lack of or insufficient incentives for the development of preschool education. Thus, there are few effective levers to overcome gender segregation in Ukraine in the short and medium term. Achieving gender equality in the labor market is practically declaratory. Conclusions. In the context of the wartime crisis, gender segregation is a significant issue with negative consequences. A market specifically for women’s labor is emerging, and the social status of women’s work is declining compared to pre-war times. This situation may reinforce societal stereotypes that view men as more suitable for leadership positions, potentially decreasing women’s motivation and career aspirations.

"STEM in Genere”: an impact evaluation

Research on labour market disparities between men and women has long since identified horizontal segregation in the educational system as one of the main factors driving the gender pay gap. One of the factors identified in the literature believed to be at the heart of horizontal gender segregation is the lack of representation and visibility of women in STEM fields. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of a program named “STEM in Genere”, developed within the Gender Equality Plan 2022-2024 of the University of Brescia (Italy), which is aimed at contrasting the underrepresentation and the stereotypical representation of women in science among primary and lower secondary school students. Students of participant classes will meet an educator for a total of 2 hours, in which counter-stereotypical thinking of women in science will be stimulated via learning games. Teachers of participant classes will follow in parallel a dedicated workshop about non-stereotypical science teaching. The effects of the program on students' gender stereotypes in science and study/job aspirations will be evaluated via a randomised controlled trial (RCT) conducted in primary and secondary schools of the Brescia province, an affluent province located in the northern part of Italy. In particular, we will randomise classes within participating schools to have a good balance between the statistical power of the experiment and potential contamination threats. The contribution of this evaluation is threefold. First, we will collect first-hand data on students' views and aspirations in a country - Italy - in which the population traditionally holds quite conservative views about gender roles. Second, we will provide robust, experimental evidence on the effectiveness of the program “STEM in Genere”, which is potentially scalable nationwide. Lastly, we will contribute to the methodological debate about question framing in survey methodology, by randomly varying the formulation of the questions in the surveys. Policy implications for educational and learning environments will be discussed.

RESOLVING GENDER EQUALITY: HOW FAMILY BACKGROUND CAN HELP TO RESOLVE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE EMPLOYMENT CONTEXT

Occupational segregation encompasses two distinct phases: initial labour market entry, characterised as horizontal gender segregation, and subsequent ascension to upper echelons within firms, known as vertical gender segregation. Existing scholarly work has illuminated how the labour market delineates occupations into men-dominated, women-dominated, and mixed-gender spheres (Beller, 1984; Reskin & Hartmann, 1986; Rytina & Bianchi, 1984; Ruijter & Huffman, 2003; May & McGarvey, 2017; Lewandowski et al., 2020). Concurrently, vertical gender segregation, or the glass ceiling, propels men's expedited progression to upper management positions, contributing to male dominance in this realm. This gender disparity is underscored by global senior management statistics, revealing a mere 29% female representation (Catalyst, 2020). This research endeavours to dissect the familial impact on horizontal gender segregation, hypothesising its consequential role in driving vertical gender segregation. An online questionnaire was distributed to seven branches of the private college, and a total of 599 respondents were received. The descriptive statistical analysis was used to investigate which factor(s) of the family background influenced their education selection. The results found that parental role influenced the most decisions, followed by parents’ education and family's economic condition. However, there were no significant differences between the three factors, probably due to the financial assistance they received during their studies.

Gender Segregation in the Borderlands of E-Science

This article draws on an ethnographic study of an e-science platform in Sweden to analyse how horizontal gender segregation across sciences plays out in e-science, a borderland in which sciences converge around state-of-the art computational technologies for scientific research. While the convergence of sciences in e-science has the potential to open a non-traditional trajectory to attract women to ICTs, we find that this potential remains untapped. Instead horizontal gender segregation is perpetuated through a) restricted mobility of women from scientific fields with higher gender parity to IT, b) gender friction negatively affecting women in cross-disciplinary e-science, c) a gendered developer/user divide permeating e-science collaborations under ‘the logic of domains,’ and d) perceived self-reliance in computational tool development across sciences acting as ‘gendered boundary work’ to strengthen the gendered hard/soft divide in sciences.

RODNA RAVNOPRAVNOST U VISOKOŠKOLSKOM OBRAZOVANJU: HORIZONTALNA RODNA SEGREGACIJA U PODRUČJU DRUŠTVENIH NAUKA / GENDER EQUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION: HORIZONTAL GENDER SEGREGATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Gender equality is a crucial issue for the 21st century society, which implies the responsibility of universities to critically review the current situation, identify social circumstances in which education takes place, and creatively design ways in which they can change social reality. Considering the imperatives of gender-inclusive education, this research is focused on the problem of horizontal gender segregation and its reflection on vertical segregation. The examination starts with insight into the general situation in higher education institutions in BiH to pay special attention to the field of social sciences at the University of Sarajevo. Based on the meta-analysis of available secondary data, the analysis primarily determines the 'diversity index' in this area, and identifies the specifics of scientific fields and the differences between them.

The role of the hidden curriculum in the development of horizontal gender segregation, as a result of an interview research with teachers

The impact and influencing power of educators and teaching aids used in education systems is an internationally researched area as they play a key role in the development and study of students’ personality. According to the literature, the teacher is one of the most significant „tools” of the hidden curriculum behind the official curriculum, but the presentation of the phenomenon in teaching aids strengthens gender stereotypes and reduces the possibility of gender equality. In this study, we examine the role of a hidden curriculum in the development of gender horizontal segregation, with particular reference to the influence of teachers and textbooks. In the empirical part of the study, we did conduct a semi -structured interview with 18 elementary school teachers through a non-probability expert sampling, which was analyzed by categorization and interpretation. Our results show that traditional gender roles have prevailed in the family of educators. During their studies, they observed a difference depending on their educators in terms of behavior and expectations – but they believe that they themselves do not differentiate between students. According to their views, the personality of the teachers is of particular importance regarding the personality development and academic progress of the students, however, the career orientation of the children is mainly determined by the parents family patterns that appear in the family.

“Flying under the radar”: Postfeminism and teaching in academic science

AbstractNeoliberal academia is marked by vertical and horizontal gender segregation, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a particularly concerning case. Women with PhDs are underrepresented, and when they do participate, they are more likely than men to be in teaching‐intensive roles. Beyond equality concerns, this is problematic because when women are interpreters rather than producers of disciplinary knowledge, the STEM enterprise remains gender‐biased. Using data from a 2‐year ethnography with physical science faculty in teaching‐intensive roles, this paper argues that gender inequity is reproduced through postfeminist discourses of work‐life balance. Participants who are mothers say they are flying under the radar at work. They self‐surveille as they engage in both paid labor as university educators and unpaid carework at home. Importantly, when participants challenge hegemonic gender norms, they attract the radar's attention and are sanctioned. This study contributes to a growing understanding of how and why women are marginalized in STEM careers. Women with science PhDs fulfill their university's teaching mission with minimal support for the implied compensation of work‐life balance, leaving the institutional structures which privilege men's participation in STEM research intact.

GENDER ANALYSIS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CONDITIONS OF RUSSIA’S ARMED AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

Аnnotation. The article is devoted to the study of the application of gender analysis in the management of social development in the conditions of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. It was substantiated that gender analysis should be more widely applied outside the political decisionmaking process. Further development took place using the “3 P method” for the analysis of problems and features of public management of social development in the conditions of war was further developed. This allows us to consider gender analysis as a tool for managing social development in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. It was revealed that the horizontal gender segregation of labor inherent in Ukraine has deepened since the 1990s, and after the evacuation/emigration of girls and women in the course of large-scale Russian aggression, it led to regressive social development. This is confirmed by the temporary suspension of the work of most authorities in the field of social protection, state/municipal institutions, structures in the social sphere, the closure of a significant number of medical institutions, pharmacies, the deterioration of the quality/reduction of the number of social services. It was established that in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the horizontal gender segregation of labor in the social sphere created threats to the direct public management of social development. Under extraordinary conditions, the importance of horizontal communicative interaction, communicative management in the social sphere of society has increased. It has been proven that the Russian-Ukrainian war made it impossible to reproduce and improve human capital, and worsened the quality of health of the Ukrainian population. The murders of civilians by the aggressor country, the significant excess mortality of men in reproductive age, the consequences of sexual violence against women and girls by Russians in the occupied territories undermine the public health system, threaten the loss of the reproductive potential of the Ukrainian nation. It was found that the deliberate destruction of civilian objects (especially social infrastructure) by shelling from Russia worsened the financial situation of all Ukrainian citizens, but to a greater extent women. It is suggested, that the priority direction of social development management should be state management of public health protection after the war.

University students’ views regarding gender in STEM studies: Design and validation of an instrument

Differences in the representation of diversity in higher education, emphasising the gender gap in some areas, are issues addressed from different research domains. Socially, gender roles have been constructed and are also related to professions. In this context, the Social Cognitive Career Theory explores the possible causes of segregation. This segregation is evident in Europe and Spain, as indicated by the European Institute for Gender Equality. This paper describes the design and validation process of an instrument to find out what opinions university students have about higher education studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), according to gender. After drafting the questionnaire, it was piloted in a non-experimental quantitative design in Spain. Subsequently, a validity and reliability study was applied to validate the items and construct their dimensionality. The process was implemented using Reliability Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Also, the dimensionality consists of five scales: Gender Ideology, Perception and Self-perception, Expectations about Science, Attitudes and Interests. Based on the results, it is concluded that the opinion about STEM studies is conditioned by personal elements, such as motivations, educational background and family and social influences, such as people who judged their decision, were their references or studied STEM programs. Finally, it is essential to pay socio-educational attention to the modulating components of decisions about which higher education studies to pursue. Awareness of the factors involved in the decision helps the educational community to establish mechanisms to prevent horizontal gender segregation. The instrument designed, validated and presented in this study provides a glimpse of possible causes for the gender gap in STEM higher education.

Why do women opt for gender-atypical fields of study? The increasing role of income motivation over time

Gender segregation in fields of study represents an important explanation for gender inequalities in the labor market, such as the gender wage gap. Research shows that horizontal gender segregation in higher education persists for a variety of reasons, including women’s greater communal goals and men’s greater motivation to earn high incomes. Yet with the male breadwinner model in decline, a key question is whether women’s motivation to earn high incomes might contribute to increasing women’s participation in female-atypical fields of study. Using data from the German Student Survey over a period of 30 years, our findings show that the proportion of women enrolled in female-atypical fields of study increased from 1984 to 2015. Moreover, women’s motivation to earn high incomes mediates the effect of time on enrollment in female-atypical fields of study. Their motivation to earn high incomes might thus be a factor contributing to the disruption of gender segregation in fields of study over time. Furthermore, contrary to expectations, the motivation to earn high incomes as a driving force for women to opt for gender-atypical fields of study is not stratified by social background.

Women academics in ukrainian tertiary education: gendered image of occupational segregation

The representation of women in the managerial structure of the Ukrainian universities is the exception, rather than the rule. They are assigned to those sectors of university functioning that do not provide access to the management of resources (e.g. educational work), very rarely – position of deans of faculties and heads of chairs. After the analysis of conducted in-depth interviews with female and male rectors, vice-rectors and deans, some reasons for it could be mentioned: the influence of stereotypes (a successful woman in science is unsuccessful in family life; a woman is too emotional to be an effective leader), the insufficient activity of the women's (feminist) movement in the scientific space of Ukraine, uneven representation of women at all levels of university management. Vertical and horizontal occupational gender segregation is a mark of higher education system of Ukraine. The reasons are not only the overloading of women-researchers with housework, which does not allow them to compete with men successfully but also the effect of the “glass ceiling”, which is very acute in higher education institutions.

Гендерное равенство как один из факторов социально-экономического развития Узбекистана

Achieving gender equality remains one of the most important tasks of the state policy of Uzbekistan. The country maintains a position with a high level of both vertical and horizontal gender segregation in the labor market. The article reviews and identifies the main reasons for maintaining gender inequality, as well as positive changes in the provision of equal rights in the field of gender relations.

Occupational Attributes and Occupational Gender Segregation in Sweden: Does It Change Over Time?

Sweden consistently ranks at the top of international assessments of gender equality, but paradoxically exhibits marked horizontal gender segregation in the labor market. By combining administrative and respondent-collected data, this study investigates whether occupational attributes are associated with sex distribution in Swedish occupations over a 10-year period between 2002 and 2011. Results show that the proportion of women was higher, on average, in occupations high in people orientation and verbal demands and lower in occupations high in things orientation and numerical demands. Mixed linear models showed a trend for desegregation during this period, as the proportion of women in people-oriented occupations has declined and a trend for an increase in the proportion of women in numerically demanding occupations was observed. Occupational attributes aid the understanding of gender segregation but patterns of segregation seem to change over time.

The academic “glass-ceiling”: investigating the increase of female academicians in Italy

Purpose This study addresses gender composition in universities. The purpose of this study is to define the vertical and horizontal gender segregation in both public and private universities. In particular, it measures the gender distribution throughout academic careers across levels and time, and among fields of science in Italian academia. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted the framework of Blackburn et al. (2002) as a theoretical lens through which they examine and explain occupational gender segregation in the university context. A mixed methodology of both document analysis and examining some statistical indicators was used to create gender-disaggregated measures to help the authors answer their research questions. The data collected represent academia in Italy for the period 2010-2018. The data were obtained from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. Findings The authors show the gendered nature of academic institutions in Italy. In particular, the authors acknowledge that hierarchies of power exist that privilege men and the masculine and devalue women and the feminine within academic institutions. Practical implications This paper provides theoretical and practical findings that support the literature on gender issues in universities and other public and/or private institutions. The academic community, practitioners and policymakers can use the results to design measures to address gender inequality in academia. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is novel because it provides gender-relevant insights on the gender composition in universities in the Italian context. These insights are also relevant for academic institutions that operate in an international setting.

The role of vocational education in the transmission of gender segregation from education to employment: Switzerland and Bulgaria compared

Previous comparative research has uncovered considerable cross-country differences in occupational gender segregation. There is, however, a lack of research on the role of educational systems in the creation of gender segregation and gendered school-to-work transitions. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of vocational education and the strength of the education–employment linkage in the transmission of horizontal gender segregation from education into the labour market. Transition system literature points to a stronger linkage between education and employment in countries where initial vocational education and training dominates the educational offers, and to a weaker linkage in countries with a stronger focus on general education. Moreover, research on gender segregation in education shows that segregation is especially pronounced in educational systems with a strong vocational education and training sector on the upper secondary level. Based on these insights, we hypothesize that gender segregation in education and its transmission to employment is more pronounced the more distinct a country’s initial vocational education and training system is. To test our assumption, we compare individual school-to-work transitions in Switzerland and Bulgaria, with the vocational principle being more prevalent in the structuring of Swiss educational offers. We use data from the Swiss Youth Panel Survey TREE (N = 3215) and the Bulgarian School Leaver Survey BSLS (N = 885). Following recent developments in multi-group segregation research, entropy-based measurements are calculated to study the school-to-work linkages and the transmission of gender segregation in the two select countries. The empirical results confirm a more pronounced educational gender segregation in Switzerland, which is transferred more strongly into the labour market due to the tighter linkage in that country between education and employment compared to Bulgaria.

Book review of: Klaudia Śledzińska (ed.). Responsibility – Participation - Conscious Citizenship – The Dilemmas of Global Education. Warszawskie Wydawnictwo Sociologiczne. Warszawa 2017.

Book review of: Klaudia Śledzińska (ed.). Responsibility – Participation - Conscious Citizenship – The Dilemmas of Global Education. Warszawskie Wydawnictwo Sociologiczne. Warszawa 2017.

Интеграция женщин в вооруженные силы: перспективы и проблемы украинского общества

This article analyzes women’s integration into the Armed Forces of Ukraine from a liberal feminist point of view, incorporating sociological and gender perspectives. The phenomenon of vertical and horizontal gender segregation and gender discrimination in the Armed Forces is described as a problem of the labor market, based on both the Soviet legacy and global trends of women’s participation in the military. However, the growing number of military women in the contract service is primarily associated with the reluctance of men to hold low-paid positions. Women in the Armed Forces of Ukraine participate mostly in the so-called feminized professions: nursing, finance, logistics, and communications. Women in the military also face gender discrimination and prejudice. The infrastructure of the Ukrainian military is designed for the needs of men and thus excludes women with their specific needs from the army.In this article we consider the opportunities and challenges around the implementation of the gender policy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Formally, the Ukrainian army had developed a gender policy that meets the national gender policy and attempts to guarantee equal rights for all persons, regardless of sex, in military life. However, there is resistance to the realistic implementation of the declared policy of equal rights and opportunities for women and men. The article is based on the findings of the “Invisible Battalion” project (conducted in 2015–2016), which ooked at the roles women played in the Antiterrorist Operation (ATO ) in the Donbas region and their fight for equal rights and opportunities in Ukraine. DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2018-10-2-13-33

Addressing the Horizontal Gender Division of Labor: A Case Study of Support and Obstacles in a Heavy Industry Plant in Iceland

In the present article, we analyze a project in a heavy industry plant in Iceland in which the management aims to hire an equal number of women and men and, thereby, to work against the gender segregation of work. For their efforts, called the 50/50 strategy, the plant has received national and international awards. Observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted during five visits to the plant, including 85 interviews with 72 individuals, 49 women and 23 men. We found extensive support for the policy. The managers saw business opportunities in it, but although the employees supported the policy because it was seen as fair and modern, they doubted that achieving equal gender representation would be possible. The main emphasis so far has been on designing work organization and equipment, advertising the policy, presenting job opportunities to women outside the plant, and encouraging both genders to acquire the “right” education. Why the 50/50 target has not been reached lies partly in gender stereotypes outside the plant. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the next steps should be to challenge an alleged male working-culture within the plant. If they fail to do so, their efforts to eliminate horizontal gender segregation are unlikely to succeed and may even become counterproductive.

Gendered jobs and occupational prestige in Turkey: Women in the hierarchy elevator

ABSTRACTThe success of women in traditionally male disciplines of higher education is not correspondingly reflected in their employment in high-prestige male-dominated jobs in Turkey and this paper seeks to understand the individual level factors that have influenced women’s limited presence in these, particularly in relation to their household- and family-related responsibilities from the 1980s to the 2000s and with reference to current patterns. The term “hierarchy elevator” is introduced to describe and elaborate how horizontal gender segregation intersects with vertical gender segregation as both create disadvantages for women in the job market, considering that their representation is limited in traditionally male jobs and prestigious jobs. Using ordered logistic regressions, this paper demonstrates that being highly educated reinforces women’s career trajectories in high-prestige male-dominated jobs in Turkey, while married women are largely excluded from these. Those who have one child compared to none are more likely to attain these jobs, while having two or more children impedes their labor market outcomes in these positions. This finding can be associated with the expanded financial resources of the few women who work in high-prestige male-dominated jobs for being able to afford childcare, and who may also prefer to have just one child each in order to maintain their status in these demanding jobs.

The role of ability beliefs and agentic vs. communal career goals in adolescents' first educational choice. What explains the degree of gender-balance?

To reduce the horizontal gender segregation in the labor market, we need to understand gender differences in career choice. The current study followed a large group of Swedish adolescents as they made their first educational choice, and tested for mediation of gender differences using measures of ability beliefs and career goals, which were collected shortly prior to the choice. Findings revealed strong gender differences in high-tech ability beliefs (e.g. computers), which combined with social ability beliefs (e.g. listening skills) and, to a lesser degree, communal career goals (e.g. helping) explained gender differences in educational choice. A new measure of career goal choice revealed that a majority of the adolescents prefer agentic (e.g. status) over communal goal fulfilment if made to choose, although this preference was stronger amongst the boys. Our results support social cognitive career theory, expectancy-value theory and the goal congruity perspective as they demonstrate how gender differences in educational choice can be understood in terms of differences in competence beliefs and career goals. Furthermore, the results suggest that one reason why gender balanced programs appeal to adolescents is their perceived ability to fulfill both agentic and communal career goals.