Gender Segregation and Union Transitions

Lars Jarkko, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Using NLSY79, CPS and Census PUMS data, this paper examines the effect of gender segregation in occupations on unions transitions. Specifically, looking at first union transitions, from being single to either marriage or cohabitation, this paper seeks to determine whether gender segregation in occupations has an effect on these transitions and if it has an effect of which type of union is formed. I hypothesize that the social forces that create gender segregation in occupations also create and reinforce more general gender role attitudes and economic conditions that have already been shown to affect union formation and maintenance. I expect to find that gender segregation has more of an effect on the transition from single to married than to cohabitation and has more of an effect for men than for women.