Us versus Them: The Responses of Managers to the Feminization of High-Status Occupations

Abstract

What happens when more and more women enter high-status occupations that were previously male-dominated occupations? This article explores how the processes by which the entrance of women into high-status occupations has affected the hiring, income, and perceived competence of women. I present the results of a general population experiment conducted on a large, random sample of the U.S. population. The experiment was designed to explore the hiring, income, and perceived competence of all women when high-status occupations become predominantly female. I show that when male managers are exposed to information about high-status occupations’ becoming predominantly female, they evaluate women who work in other high-status occupations as less competent, tend to hire them less frequently, and offer them lower salaries. Female managers, however, tend to respond to such changes in the labor force by valuing women more highly.