Gender, Labor, and Geography: Mapping the Economic Life Cycles of German-born and Irish-born Immigrants in 1880 New York City

This thesis examines the relationship between gender-based occupational segregation and gender-based residential patterns in 1880 New York City. Specifically, it finds that that Irish-born immigrants were more likely to be employed in highly gender-segregated occupations than their German-born counterparts. This had a spatial impact on the residential patterns of Irish-born men and women. Because Irish-born immigrants tended to work in highly gender-segregated occupations that were located in different parts of the city, Irish-born men and women disproportionately lived in different areas. The paper discusses some of the historical and contextual factors that explain why Irish-born women were more likely than German-born women to go into highly gender-segregated occupations. Lastly, it shows how this relationship between occupational segregation and geography impacted the economic life cycles of these immigrant women. In particular, it identifies the rate at which women left the workforce after getting married or having children.