This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shirahase, S. Articles by Ishida, H. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Gender Inequality in the Japanese Occupational Structure

A Cross-National Comparison with Great Britain and the United States

East Asian Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, U.S.A.

Hiroshi Ishida

Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, U.S.A.

This study examines the degree of sex segregation in the Japanese occupational structure from a comparative perspective with the British and American societies. Contrary to the expecta tion that Japan is a traditional society as far as the status of women in the labor market is concerned, the overall degree of sex segregation in Japan is smaller than it is in Great Britain and the United States. The low degree of sex segregation may be explained by two factors: (1) relatively smaller shares of managerial and service occupations in which men and women respectively are over-represented, and (2) more equal sex composition in clerical, blue-collar production process, and agricultural occupations. Opportunities for part-time work seem to further reduce the sex segregation index in Japan, unlike in Britain and the United States, because many Japanese female part-time workers are engaged in blue-collar occupations rather than white-collar occupations. However, gender inequality in the Japanese labor market is probably manifested in the form of access to authority in the workplace, employment status, and full-time/part-time distinction within occupations.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?