Women in Masculinized Occupations, Men in Feminized Occupations: Experiences of Gender Occupational Minorities and Their Roles within the Occupational Group
Women in Masculinized Occupations, Men in Feminized Occupations: Experiences of Gender Occupational Minorities and Their Roles within the Occupational Group

Summary/Abstract: Horizontal gender segregation divides the labor market into ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ occupations. However, some individuals choose occupational paths which are not consistent with the expectations for their gender, thereby becoming a minority in their occupational group. We propose the joint term ‘gender occupational minorities’ to describe their situation. We aim to supplement previous research with a combined analysis of the two gender groups, enabling a more general perspective on the meaning of gender in the labor market as well as a comparison of how similar mechanisms work in opposite gender contexts. Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s practical principles of gender occupational segregation, women working in IT/new technologies and men working in childcare/education were chosen as the project’s target groups. In this paper, we focus on the experience of being a gender occupational minority on the Polish labor market as well as on the role of gender occupational minorities within the occupational group.

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