Reproducing occupational inequality: Marriage, parenthood and the gender divide in occupations

It is well established that class and gender predict occupational placement across advanced industrialized countries. In exploratory analyses the authors document a third dimension to occupational segregation associated with family responsibilities, and consider explanations for cross- national variability in this dimension. Using data from ten countries contained in the Luxembourg Income Study they find that family responsibilities systematically influence occupational sorting, but do so differently for men and women. There is less variability in the effects of family status on men's occupational location than on women's across countries. Whereas family responsibilities consistently sort men into the highest pay levels of occupational categories, the pattern for women is bifurcated - with a hollowing out at the middle ranks. Using a novel set of national-level indicators, including data from the Multinational Time Use Survey, they find that the influence of family responsibilities on women's occupational location is associated with prevailing standards for women's domestic labor time.