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Does occupational gender composition affect women's chances of becoming managers? Evidence from France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK

Vanessa di Paola (Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LEST, Aix-en-Provence, France) (CAR Aix en Provence, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Qualifications, Aix en Provence, France)
Arnaud Dupray (DEEVA, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur les Qualifications, Marseille, France) (Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LEST, Aix-en-Provence, France)
Stéphanie Moullet (Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LEST, Aix-en-Provence, France) (Institut Régional du Travail, Marseille, France)

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

ISSN: 0144-333X

Article publication date: 20 June 2022

Issue publication date: 23 May 2023

301

Abstract

Purpose

The authors aim to explore the link between the gender composition of occupations and women's access to managerial positions in four societal contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

Using EU-LFS data for 2015, the authors measure the relative gender equality performance of France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK regarding women's access to managerial positions, defined as levels 1 and 2 of the 2008 ISCO classification coupled with the exercise of managerial responsibilities.

Findings

While gender-mixed working environments offer the largest number of managerial positions, they are also where women are least likely to reach such a position. Overall, except in Switzerland, women fare best in male-dominated occupations. Women do not appear to fare worse than men in female-dominated occupations, except in France.

Research limitations/implications

The findings question the relevance of policies aimed simply at reducing occupational gender segregation without providing safeguards against the deleterious effects that gender mixing may have on women's career advancement.

Originality/value

The disparities between countries found here show that individual career advancement towards a managerial position may be driven by the social policies, gender ideology and institutions of the societal context. Examining how the societal dimensions involved in the poor performance of women in France and Switzerland are likely to differ sheds light on mechanisms behind the gender gap in management.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This article stems from a research project (WOman in Management) funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) – Projet ANR-16-CE26-0010-01. The authors are grateful to Eurostat and OFS (Switzerland) for supplying data and assert none of these bodies are responsible for the results and conclusions presented here. The authors thank Nicky Le feuvre, Christian Imdorf and Thomas Couppié for helpful comments on earlier versions and conference participants to the IVth ISA forum of Sociology, Porto-Allegre, Brazil, February 2021.

Citation

di Paola, V., Dupray, A. and Moullet, S. (2023), "Does occupational gender composition affect women's chances of becoming managers? Evidence from France, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 43 No. 5/6, pp. 473-490. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-12-2021-0315

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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