Gender Segregation in Employment: Italy and Chile In Comparison

This chapter considers, from a comparative perspective, gender segregation in employment while comparing two national contexts in Europe and Latin America. Particularly, starting from the analysis of the growth trends of female participation in the labour market during the last twenty-five years (1992–2017), it will investigate both sectoral and occupational segregation. In partial contrast to human capital theories and neoclassical economics, feminization patterns and gender inequalities are framed, theoretically, within labour market segmentation approach. Our preliminary hypothesis is based on the assumption that the distribution of occupations - measured by a gender segregation index - is comparable in Italy and Chile, although major dissimilarities in the level of socio-economic development.