Occupational Gender Segregation and Women's Wages in Canada: An Historical Perspective

We document the evolution of occupational gender segregation and its implications for women's labour market outcomes over the twentieth century. The first half of the century saw a considerable decline in vertical segregation as women moved out of domestic and manufacturing work into clerical work. This created a substantial amount of horizontal segregation that persists to this day. To study the effects of occupational segregation on the gender gap, we introduce a decomposition technique that divides the gap into between-occupation and within-occupation components. Since the 1990s the component attributable to within-occupation wage differentials has become predominant. Nous tracons un portrait de l'evolution de la segregation professionnelle selon le sexe au 20ieme siecle, et de ses consequences sur la condition feminine dans le marche du travail. Dans la premiere partie du 20ieme siecle, la segregation professionnelle hierarchique ou verticale a considerablement declinee alors que les travailleuses quittaient les emplois de domestique et du secteur manufacturier en faveur des emplois de bureau. Ceci crea neanmoins une importante segregation professionnelle horizontale qui persiste jusqu'a aujourd'hui. Pour etudier les effets de la segregation professionnelle sur l'ecart salarial selon le sexe, nous presentons une technique de decomposition qui divise l'ecart salarial en deux composantes: l'une due aux differences intra-occupations et l'autre due aux differences inter-occupations. Depuis le debut des annees 90, la composante intra-occupation est predominante.