Occupational Sex Segregation and Family Formation in the Former East and West Germany

This article examines patterns of occupational sex segregation for women and men born in the 1950s and early 1960s in the former East and West Germany prior to unification. Given the nature of family policies, we had expected to find an increase in the gender-typicality of occupations as individuals married and had children especially in the West. Yet, despite high levels of occupational sex segregation and clear evidence of the “holding power” of gender-typical occupations for both countries, we found almost no support for the neoclassical notion that family formation influences the gender type of an occupation. This is consistent with previous U.S.-based research.

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