The Flip Side of Gender Segregation: Cross‐National and Temporal Variation in Men's Participation in Female‐Dominated Occupations

ABSTRACT

Despite women's growing presence in male‐dominated occupations, men remain underrepresented in female‐typed occupations. This imbalance is commonly attributed to three factors: (1) the confinement of female‐typed occupations to a narrow range of stereotypical domains, (2) their lower socioeconomic rewards, and (3) the stigma men face in gender‐atypical roles. However, existing evidence—primarily qualitative or based on single countries and few occupations—offers limited generalizability. This study combines EU‐LFS data from 23 countries (1992–2019) with occupation‐ and country‐level indicators to describe cross‐national and temporal variation in men's participation in female‐typed occupations. By distinguishing between numerically female‐dominated occupations and those involving stereotypically female tasks, we find that increasing occupational diversity, selected economic indicators, and more liberal gender‐role attitudes predict men's presence in female‐dominated occupations; yet in stereotypically female occupations, men's participation has remained largely unchanged. Our comparative, longitudinal approach therefore points to a differentiated pattern: men's participation has increased in composition‐based female‐dominated occupations, whereas stereotype‐based occupational boundaries persist.