Skip to content
Collage aus zwei Bildern von denen das eine mehrere OP-Schwestern zeigt und das andere drei Bauarbeiter mit Bauhelm und -weste.

Gender and employment

The German labour market is characterised by a pronounced occupational segregation of women and men. This is the case across all of Germany, east and west. The extent of this segregation has only marginally reduced in Germany over recent years. It is unlikely that the segregation of the labour market into male and female domains will end any time soon, and will therefore remain a major cause of inequality in terms of earnings and career development. On average, female-dominated occupations are less well-paid than male-dominated occupations.

Could the choice of occupation lead to a career that goes nowhere? What impact does digitalisation have on gender inequality in the German labour market? ? What are the gender-specific differences in career progression between eastern and western Germany? And what about the education and employment of women in STEM jobs (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)? The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) explores these questions in its research on gender and employment. It also looks into women's employment in shortage occupations, examines how job advertisements display gender bias and explores gender discrimination in the application process.

We have compiled a list of IAB publications and projects on this page that are related to the subject of gender and employment.

Activities