Feminization of the Labor Force and Structural Adjustment: Effects on Job Segregation by Sex

Abstract

In Cagatay and Ozler's (1995) exploration of the effects of development and structural adjustment on the feminization of the workforce, the authors found that adjusting countries had larger female shares of their workforces . . . Their conclusion was that there were significant statistical relationships between per capital GDP(U-shaped), most regions, increased openness, and worsening income distribution. Richard Anker's (1998) exhaustive cross-country comparison found region to be the most important explanatory variable of job segregation by sex, with a weak (almost significant) positive relationship between the feminization of the workforce and job segregation. This (Ball 2005) analysis suggests that (after controlling for region) feminization and structural adjustment are negatively related to occupational segregation by sex, and that export growth due to adjustment is one mechanism by which these economic policies affect job segregation.