Large-Scale Employment Survey

1.0. Introduction

The theory of Labour Market Segmentation suggests that, due to political, social and economic forces, many submarkets – also called segments – exist and can be differentiated by specific characteristics and behaviours (Reich-et-al.,-1978). The market can be segmented according to different factors. Among the others, segmentation by sex is of great importance nowadays due to the strive for equity between genders. Over the years, market segmentation has been strictly related to occupational sex segregation. This essay is going to focus on the gender-job satisfaction paradox which states that women are generally more satisfied than men despite their unequal position in the labour market. Relevant literature of the last four decades will be analysed to determine the reasons for such gap, followed by a critique to the validity of this statement.

2.0. Reasons for the gender/job satisfaction gap

The term “sex segregation” refers to the different concentration levels of women and men in different kinds of jobs (Giddens,-2006). Consequently, this leads to the concepts of female-typed and male-typed occupations, which, as Crompton and Sanderson (1990) notice, is a product of the past sex-stereotyping of jobs types due to biological differences as well as social roles and behaviours between the genders.

The fact that women report higher level of satisfaction does not mean that they have better jobs than men; this is why this paradox has been considered object of study by a variety of researchers including psychologists, sociologists or economists. In fact, there isn’t only a single explanation for such phenomenon. One of the most important models to justify this behaviour is the “Expectations theory” which states that those who expect less can feel satisfied more easily (Clark,-1995). Crosby (1982) noticed that workers tend to compare themselves to someone of the same sex when evaluating their jobs. Therefore, women’s comparison groups are likely to be formed by their own mothers or female friends or siblings. Hodson (1989) found out that women who had an employed mother had much higher expectations than women whose mother was only working in the household. Moreover, women’s low expectations may be due to the poor positions they have held in the past in the labour market (Clark,-1997). Furthermore, an important comparison group is composed of co-workers. Therefore, women that work in female-typed occupations are going to compare themselves to other women and, consequently, to express greater satisfaction than if they were to compare themselves to men with a better-paid position (Hodson,-1989). Strictly related to this is the argument that Hakim (1991) brings up about the psychological factors which make women more inclined to “adapt to the inevitable” (1991: 103), therefore demanding less from their job and lowering their aspirations. Finally, the more or less disadvantaged position of women in the labour market in terms of earnings or opportunities for advancement (EUROSTAT,-2002) strongly can have an influence on their aspirations.

However, these expectations as well as idiosyncratic factors and gender-typed behaviours could cause women to value and prioritize certain job characteristics which are not so important to men or vice versa. This could obviously have an impact on the satisfaction level of both genders. For example different studies support the theory that women do not value earnings and opportunities for advancement as much as men, but their satisfaction level is mostly influenced by social factors – e.g. relationship with co-workers and managers (Sloane-and-Williams,-2000) – or working time (Sousa-Poza-and Sousa-Poza,-2000). This last argument also relates to the importance of the woman in the household management. Possible explanations for women high satisfaction rely on the priority most of them give to having and managing a family as an alternative source of satisfaction or eventual primary ambition; this might have an impact when evaluating job’s concerns, as they could be considered lighter compared to family business (Hodson,-1989). The “marriage career” (Hakim,-1991: 104) is often considered more important than the paid job, resulting in the demand of occupations that require less commitment and to which lower importance is given. This obviously applies to certain women who are married and in particular to those with children younger than 6 years old; these women tend to seek for jobs with fewer responsibilities (Becker,-1985).

Finally, the literature assesses that women are less inclined than men to express discontent (Hodson,-1989), resulting in higher job satisfaction on paper but probably not in real life.

3.0. A critique to the statement

The last paragraph has briefly described some of the theories which give an explanation to the gender/job-satisfaction gap. However some studies have also proved the opposite – i.e. the non-real existence of such paradox. One reason for these different results could lay in the little control over some important variables. Job discrimination doesn’t only occur between different genders but also with regards to ethnicity, age (Rose, 2004) or could be simply due to experience in the work place (e.g. new comers vs. well settled employees). All these variables can be difficult to control; however, conducting a high number of studies based on small but well-controlled samples might give a clear pattern of possible reasons affecting the results.

For instance, this paradox is less likely to exist in the segment of highly-skilled professionals, whose expectations and ambitions are similar despite the gender. After all, nowadays, Western countries are working on increasing levels of equity in the labour market between the genders. The sex distribution in education is almost equal; in most European countries there are even more women enrolled in tertiary education than men (United Nation Statistics Division, 2009), therefore why should women start with lower aspirations compared to their counterpart? Experts proved that, on the contrary, in such segment, men are indeed more satisfied than women as a consequence of benefiting better working conditions. A case study worth mentioning is Chiu’s research (1998) on job satisfaction among women and men in the legal profession. She conducted her questionnaire on full-time lawyers in private practice belonging to the same generation, therefore controlling a selection of variables for more trustworthy results. She shows that, in this field, women are significantly less satisfied than men especially in those aspects of a job which before we attributed to males: promotional opportunities and financial rewards. This study – backed up by other experts such as Shapiro and Stern