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The Occupational Segregation of African American Women: Its Evolution from 1940 to 2010

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  • Olga Alonso-Villar
  • Coral del Río

Abstract

Based on detailed occupation titles and making use of measures that do not require pair-wise comparisons, this paper shows that the occupational segregation of African American women declined dramatically in 1940–80, decreased slightly in 1980–2000, and remained stagnant in 2000–10. This paper quantifies the well-being losses that African American women derive from their occupational sorting. The reduction of segregation was indeed accompanied by well-being improvements, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. Regarding the role that education has played, this study highlights that it was only from 1990 onward that African American women with either some college or university degrees had lower segregation (as compared with their peers) than those with lower education. Nevertheless, the well-being loss that African American women with university degrees derived in 2010 for being segregated from their peers in education was not too different from that of African American women with lower education.

Suggested Citation

  • Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2017. "The Occupational Segregation of African American Women: Its Evolution from 1940 to 2010," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 108-134, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:23:y:2017:i:1:p:108-134
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2016.1143959
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral Del Rio & Carlos Gradin, 2012. "The Extent of Occupational Segregation in the United States: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 179-212, April.
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    11. Valerie Rawlston & William Spriggs, 2002. "A logit decomposition analysis of occupational segregation: An update for the 1990s of Spriggs and Williams," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 91-96, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Zaheer Khan & Rusmawati Said & Nur Syazwani Mazlan & Norashidah Mohamed Nor, 2023. "Measuring the occupational segregation of males and females in Pakistan in a multigroup context," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Coral Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2019. "Occupational segregation by sexual orientation in the U.S.: exploring its economic effects on same-sex couples," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 439-467, June.
    3. Coral Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2018. "Segregation and Social Welfare: A Methodological Proposal with an Application to the U.S," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 257-280, May.
    4. Coral del Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2019. "Occupational Achievements of Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. by Gender and Race," Working Papers 1901, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.
    5. Coral del Río & Olga Alonso-Villar, 2016. "Occupational Achievements by Sexual Orientation in the U.S.: Are There Differences Among Races?," Working Papers 1604, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.

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    21. Gonzalez P. & Watts, M. J., 1996. "Measuring gender wage differentials and job segregation," ILO Working Papers 993139143402676, International Labour Organization.

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