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By Dana Bolger • @danabolger • 8 years ago

Chart of the Day: Occupation segregation and the wage gap over time

Screen Shot 2015-05-08 at 10.56.14 AMMetrocosm has a new visualization out that plots the wage gap and gender segregation in the workforce over time since 1960.

The graph shows a reduction in occupational segregation over time (although some fields, like construction, remain consistently male-dominated, while secretarial jobs remain largely filled by women) and then a narrowing of the wage gap until 2000, after which the wage gap remains fairly constant.

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High-wage jobs — which seem to have the most gender-balanced workforce — have the highest wage gaps, while low-wage jobs are (comparatively) equally low-paying. It’s low-wage jobs, though, that are the most gender-segregated, and in which women (and especially women of color) are consistently overrepresented: although they make up less than half of the workforce, women are two-thirds of low-wage workers and, as the National Women’s Law Center points out, that overrepresentation is only expected to increase over time.

Play the animated graph and check out Metrocosm’s analysis here.

 

New Haven, CT

Dana Bolger is a Senior Editor at Feministing and the co-founder of Know Your IX, the national youth-led organization working to end gender violence in schools. She's testified before Congress on Title IX policy and legislative reform, and her writing has appeared in a number of outlets, including The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She's also a student at Yale Law School, and you can find her on Twitter at @danabolger.

Dana Bolger is a Senior Editor at Feministing and a student at Yale Law School.

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