Comparing segregation by gender in the labor force across ten European countries in the 1990s

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce a normative approach to the measurement of segregation in the labor force, thus ascertaining whether segregation is due mainly to the existence of very “male‐intensive” occupations or to the presence of very “female‐intensive” occupations. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is an empirical illustration, based on data for ten European countries during the last decade of the twentieth century. Findings - Confirms the usefulness of this new approach to the study of segregation by gender. Shows in particular that one has to be very careful in drawing conclusions since the results depend in part on whether the population analyzed is that of self‐employed, employees, employees working full time or employees working part time. Research limitations/implications - This new normative approach to the study of segregation by gender gives much more flexibility to the policy makers whose aim is to reduce occupational segregation by gender because it gives enough information to give them the possibility to focus the attention on specific segments of the labor force. However, the results were often quite sensitive to the choice of the value taken by a parameter that characterizes this normative approach. Practical implications - This new approach extends the way segregation by gender in the labor force is apprehended. Originality/value - The normative segregation index derived in this paper has never been used previously.