Segregazione come distinzione? Classi occupazionali e segregazione di genere

Theories about sex segregation often analyzed the phenomenon starting from role-socialization processes and possession of individual resources. However, these theories did not consider other factors that could moderate the gender penalty in women’s chances of access to male-dominated occupations. Moreover, they did not reflect on the possibility that entry barriers to male-dominated occupations may be different according to the occupational class. This paper computes women’s chances of entering male-dominated occupations in three classes: managers, professionals, and technicians. Of particular interest is observing the moderating effect of the STEM field of study. Results show that the gender penalty and the moderating effect are uniquely intertwined in each occupational class.Moreover, the highest increase in the chances of access is associated to the most male-dominated STEM fields.