Horizontal and Vertical – the Dimensions of Occupational Segregation by Gender in Canada

The CRIAW Papers comprises a continuing series of publications: original research papers advancing the knowledge and understanding of women’s experience.

Occupational segregation is a fact of life for Canadian women in the labour force in 1981, a fact that has been part of the collective experience of Canadian women as far back as we can analyse. Similar patterns of occupational segregation by gender have been observed in Great Britain and the United States. This pattern of female employment, however, cannot be assumed to be characteristic of all nations, nor even of all industrialized or industrializing nations. While a degree of occupational segregation by gender is observed in most nations, there is considerable cross-cultural variation in the pattern.