THE MEASUREMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL GENDER SEGREGATION - CURRENT PROBLEMSAND A NEW APPROACH

This paper demonstrates the weaknesses of the two principal measures u sed in British occupational segregation research-the index of dissimil arity and the sex ratio index. It takes a fresh look at the conceptual and statistical issues involved and proposes a solution through a new approach using marginal matching. Contrary to the findings of previou s researchers, the analysis of British census data reveals that there has been little change in segregation levels between 1951 and 1981 in England and Wales.