Article Gold Open Access 2023

Social norms and gendered occupational choices of men and women: Time to turn the tide?

Industrial Relations
Journal · Vol. 62 · Issue 4 · pp. 380-410
Abstract

We analyze the relationship between social gender norms and adolescents' occupational choices by combining regional votes on constitutional amendments on gender equality with job application data from a large job board for apprenticeships. The results show that adolescent males in regions with stronger traditional social gender norms are more likely to apply for typically male occupations. This finding does not hold for females, suggesting that incentivizing men to break the norms and choose gender-atypical occupations (e.g., in healthcare) can be even more effective in accelerating advancement toward gender equality in the labor market than incentivizing women to choose STEM occupations. © 2023 The Authors. Industrial Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Regents of the University of California (RUC).

Keywords

Author Keywords

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Index Keywords

gender relations occupation labor market womens employment gender issue gender role
Author Affiliations
Universität Zürich, Zurich, ZH, Switzerland
Funding & Acknowledgements
Staatssekretariat für Bildung, Forschung und Innovation, SBFI
Funding text 1: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET\u2010ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.; Funding text 2: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET-ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.
Universität Zürich, UZH
Grant: 200227
Funding text 1: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET\u2010ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.; Funding text 2: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET-ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.
UK Research and Innovation, UKRI
Grant: 104197
Funding text 1: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET\u2010ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.; Funding text 2: The authors would like to thank the apprenticeship platform Yousty.ch for their support and provision of the apprenticeship application data. We also thank Simone Balestra, David Figlio, Simon Janssen, Edward Lazear, Jens Mohrenweiser, Harald Pfeifer, and conference participants at COPE, SASE, ILERA, and AEDE, as well as seminar participants at the University of Zurich and Stanford University for helpful comments. Special thanks go to Eric Bettinger for his help and guidance during an extended research stay at Stanford University School of Education. We thank the Swiss Federal Statistical Office for provision of the SESAM data (contract number 200227). This study is partly funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation through its \u201CLeading House VPET-ECON: A Research Center on the Economics of Education, Firm Behavior and Training Policies\u201D.
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