Volume 17, Number 3 (Summer) 1982
England, Paula. 1982. "The Failure of Human Capital Theory To Explain Occupational Sex Segregation." Journal of Human Resources 17(3):358-370.
Predictions from Polachek's theory explaining occupational sex segregation are tested and found to be false. The NLS data do not show that women are penalized less for time spent out of the labor force if they choose predominantly female occupations than if they choose occupations more typical for males. Thus, there is no evidence that plans for intermittent employment make women's choice of traditionally female occupations economically rational. It is not surprising, then, that NLS women with more continuous employment histories are no more apt to be in predominantly male occupations than women who have been employed less continuously. I conclude that human capital theory has not generated an explanation of occupational sex segregation that fits the evidence.
The author is Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Economy,
University of Texas at Dallas.
* This paper was prepared for the 1980 meetings of the Southwest Economics
Association, Houston, Tex. The research was supported by NIMH grant 5T 32 MH
14670 03 while the author was a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University.
Discussions with the following people have helped me clarify the arguments
presented here: E.M. Beck, Tabitha Doescher, Carol Jusenius, Peter Lewin,
Solomon Polachek, Barbara Reagan, and Mary Beth Walker. My thanks to each of
them.
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