How Do Men Who Attended a Predominately Female Education Program Keep-up in Predominately Female Occupations?

Our contribution will focus on school-to-work transitions of men who attended a predominantly female education and training (ET) program. Previous research has mainly focused on women’s atypical educational choices in predominantly male courses and their labour market outcomes (Epiphane 2006, Couppié-Epiphane 2001, 2007 and 2008). Results showed that those women fared better compared with men. The gender-gap in school-to-work transition is narrowing in predominantly male ET programs, through for example a lower risk of unemployment or less involuntary part-time jobs. Futhermore, they benefited from better job prospects than women who attended mixed or predominantly female ET programs.

What do we observe once we focus on the opposite group, that is the group of men who attended predominantly female courses?  Does the better situation of men on the labour market during their school–to–work transition hold? Do they face equal opportunities in the transition process? Or do they have to deal with potential discriminatory behaviour minority groups may face on the labour market? Moreover, it would be worthwhile to analyse occupational fields in which those men move into: do they stick with occupations that match their qualifications, as much as women did? If not, in what type of occupations do they start their working life, and what are their working conditions?  

To address those issues, we analyse both objective and subjective labour market outcomes: wages, skills occupational levels, as well as various measures of employment satisfaction.   

We use the French “Génération” survey which allows us to describe school leavers’ labour market trajectories between 2010 and 2013.

References:

- Couppié T. et Epiphane D., 2008, « Hommes et femmes minoritaires dans leur profession : le bonheur à quel prix ? », in Guichard-Claudic Y., Kergoat D. et Vilbrod A. (dir.), L’inversion du genre. Quand les métiers masculins se conjuguent au féminin… et réciproquement, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 41-56.

- Couppié T. et Epiphane D., 2007, « Le chemin des femmes dans les métiers masculins », in Eckert H. et Faure S. (dir.), Les jeunes et l’agencement des sexes, La Dispute, pp. 173-193.

- Couppié T. et Epiphane D., 2001, « Que sont les filles et les garçons devenus ? Orientation scolaire atypique et entrée dans la vie active », Céreq-Bref n° 178.  

- Epiphane D., 2006, « Les femmes et les sciences font-elles bon ménage ? », in Flahault E. (dir.), L’insertion professionnelle des femmes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 113-128.