Gender-specific occupational segregation in eastern Germany between persistence, displacement and alignment : a comparison with western Germany for the years 1991-2000

Abstract

"The gender-specific occupational structures in eastern and western Germany are still a long way from coming into line with each other even ten years after unification. Both segregation curves and various segregation indices unanimously prove a clearly stronger gender-specific segregation in eastern Germany for the 1990s compared with western Germany. In research discussion there is disagreement about the right way to measure gender-specific segregation. That is why the contents-related explanations are first preceded by methodical considerations, which discuss classical and more recent measures of segregation in addition to the concept of the segregation curve. The starting point for the theoretical considerations is the question as to whether the level of gender-specific segregation differs in the two parts of Germany in view of the different occupation-structure conditions and basic social conditions in the GDR and the different employment developments in eastern and western Germany after unification. In order to answer this question, hypotheses of persistence, displacement and alignment are developed which are the subject of the empirical analyses. The study for the period 1991 to 2000, which was conducted on the basis of the microcensus, shows different trends of gender-specific segregation in eastern and western Germany. A constant level of gender-specific segregation in western Germany is opposed by an increase in segregation until 1996 followed by the start of a decrease in eastern Germany. In addition to indications of the persistence and alignment hypotheses, the empirical findings substantiate the displacement hypothesis most clearly. What supports this is the fact that the increase in gender-specific segregation between 1991 and 1996 corresponded with a clear decline of the proportion of women in the workforce. A detailed examination shows that the displacement of women in numerous occupations occurred by male-dominated occupations being closed for women and female-dominated occupations being opened up for men. In addition to this quantitative displacement process there is evidence of a qualitative displacement process which manifests itself in the fact that women were not able to gain a foothold in qualified service occupations in the same way as men." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Falk, S. (2002): Geschlechtsspezifische berufliche Segregation in Ostdeutschland zwischen Persistenz, Verdrängung und Angleichung. Ein Vergleich mit Westdeutschland für die Jahre 1991-2000. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 35, No. 1, p. 37-59.