Occupational gender segregation: Index measurement and econometric modeling

Abstract

Empirical studies of gender segregation by occupation must be founded on rigorous measurement procedures. There appears to be a consensus that any index used in the analysis of time-series or international cross-section employment data must be either margin-free or decomposable to yield a margin-free component. On the other hand, Charles and Grusky (1995) advocate the use of multiplicative log models from which a margin-free odds ratio can be derived. In this paper, I contrast the construction and interpretation of the index of dissimilarity and the Karmel-MacLachlan index with the multiplicative modeling of gender segregation and the associated log index.