Occupational segregation in labour force a district level analysis in west bengal

Abstract

The problem of poverty is an issue of endless concern for developing countries like India. newlineClosely associated with the concept of poverty is the problem of inequality in the distribution of newlineincome across households. There exists a vast economic literature on the issue of inequality in newlinethe distribution of income and wealth across different socio-economic groups. Very few attempts newlinehave, however, been made to examine empirically the inequality in the distribution of people newlineacross occupations, particularly in the less developed economy. It is a known fact that unequal newlineaccess to jobs for male and female workers across various occupations takes place in almost all newlinecountries of the world. Thus occupational segregation by sex is a persistent feature of labor newlinemarkets all around the world. newlineFormally, segregation (by gender) means that women and men to a certain extent work in newlinedifferent occupations or in different sectors or under different contractual terms and conditions. newlineSegregation excludes a majority of workers from a majority of occupations (Siltanen, Jarman, and newlineBlackburn, 1995; Flückiger and Silber, 1999). The phenomenon of segregation can be contrasted newlineto a situation of integration where male and female workforces are identically distributed across newlineoccupations. newlineBy identifying the underlying labor market structures and modeling about how these newlinestructures cause the gender division of labor, significant progress has been made in measuring newlinegender stratification. Whether segregation is a phenomenon that can be looked upon as an newlineinevitable consequence of the intrinsic differences in the gender-specific skills or it is a fall out newlineof the discriminatory tendencies on part of the employers in the job market is a much debated newlinetopic of research. There is demand side as well as the supply side explanations for the issue of newlineoccupational segregation as far as the economic theories are concerned. newline