The society gendered equilibrium: in search for an economic rationale

Abstract

Several occupations are male-dominated while others are women-dominated. This paper attempts to establish an economic rationale behind it. In this paper, women have greater difficulty to conciliate the labor market with the household and for that reason have a higher cost of effort. We found that when the marginal cost of effort is increasing, production is organized in competitive ways in which men have a lower cost of effort advantage, and economic forces push men towards those more competitive and higher paying occupations. On the other hand, when the marginal cost of effort is decreasing, production is organized in less competitive ways, and the economic forces push women towards those less competitive and lower paying occupations. Keywords: Gender equality; Occupational segregation; Effort cost; Stereotypes; Economic incentives. JEL classification: J16, J30, D63, C72.