Occupational gender segregation across functional fields

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature and degree of occupational gender segregation across the functional fields in South Africa and to determine if existing “supply-side” explanations serve to explain the phenomenon through an attitudinal survey of the females in the sample. The UNISA first year MBL students were requested to complete the survey during their August Centre Visit at the SBL Sasol auditorium in Midrand. The survey consists of two sections. Section A determined the gender of the sample element and subsequently their functional field of occupation, which enabled the calculation of the Karmel and MacLachlan Index per functional field. The Finance, General Management, Information Technology, Operations and Production and Procurement, Buying and Logistics fields showed high levels of integration, while the Marketing, Sales and Customer Service field showed low levels of segregation in favour of women. Human Resources was strongly female dominant, while Research and Development was strongly male dominant. The “Other” field showed the highest level of segregation in favour of women. Section B contains the attitudinal Likert scale questions to measure the extent to which the various supply-side explanations determine the women’s career decisions. There seem to be certain explanation types, such as Exchange Utility and Reward, which serve as strong selection criteria and other factors that play a lesser role, such as Teaching Styles and Self-Image. Based on the averages the Occupational Sex-Typing, Self-Efficacy and Parental Influence explanations showed no agreement from any of the sample elements.