Occupational Segregation by Sex: Determinants and Changes

The human capital and discrimination explanations of occupational segregation are tested in this paper. The empirical evidence is mixed on the supply-oriented human capital explanation, but it supports the demand-oriented discrimination explanation. The enforcement of federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) programs measures discrimination indirectly. Findings show that between 1967 and 1974, both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the federal contract compliance program increased a working woman's probability of being employed in a male occupation relative to a man's probability. This success of EEO laws suggests that discrimination was a determinant of occupational segregation originally.