Female Overrepresentation in Public and Nonprofit Sector Jobs: Evidence From a French National Survey. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lanfranchi, Joseph; Narcy, Mathieu
• Is Part Of: Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly. Volume 44:Number 1(2015)
• Page Start: 47
• Page End: 74
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: public and nonprofit sectors -- overrepresentation of women -- occupational segregation -- family-friendly policies; Nonprofit organizations -- Periodicals; Voluntarism -- Periodicals; Charity organization -- Periodicals; 361.763
• DOI: 10.1177/0899764013502579
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0899-7640

Abstract

Women are overrepresented in the public and nonprofit sectors. This article aims to bring to light the reasons behind this phenomenon. The originality of the employer–employee matched data used allows us to consider a large scope of potential reasons. Using a nonlinear decomposition technique, we find that in addition to the well-known occupational segregation effect, the overrepresentation of women in the public and nonprofit sectors is associated with two common factors: greater offerings of family-friendly practices and higher attraction of men for certain fringe benefits that are more frequently provided by the for-profit sector. Sector-specific factors also exist. The higher wage advantage obtained by women compared with men working in the public sector rather than in the for-profit sector contributes to the feminization of the public sector. Similarly, the overrepresentation of women in the nonprofit sector is linked to greater access to part-time jobs and shorter workweeks there.