Blog 12

Occupational segregation is basically the wage difference between men and women. “Though women make up to 47 percent of those working in the paid labor force, those who work full-time, year-round, make only 73 percent of the salaries of their male peers. Much of this difference is due to occupational segregation, that is, men and women are in different jobs, and the jobs women hold pay less, on average, that those that men occupy.” (Britton 5) Even when women are in the same exact occupation as men, they still tend to get paid less.


This type of discrimination exists even though we have laws against sexual discrimination because people find loop holes and simply because some people to follow the rules and others do not enforce them. “The reason is that administrators were left with a loophole, the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exemption. Under this rule, an employer who can show that a particular job cannot be performed by a member of one sex may legally discriminate in hiring.” (Britton 10)

Gender socialization relates to the formation of occupational segregation because naturally in almost any situation, men will stick with men and women will stick with women, which is segregation right there. This happens a lot when it comes to occupations especially because it is usually unfamiliar territory and when you are unfamiliar with something, you normally stick to your own kind, or what you know. Men will socialize more with men and women with women, especially in a working environment and I think a lot of this might have to do with the fact that men do not want to get accused of hitting on a certain woman if he is hanging out with her at work or talking to her too much and same for women. Also, when a woman comes into a male domination work place, the men are most likely not going to be very welcoming because they probably feel as if the woman or women are trying to take over their territory, but little do they know that woman is probably doing the same thing as them, but not making as much money.