EXPLAINING FEMINIZATION IN THE US BANKING INDUSTRY, 1940-1980 - HUMAN-CAPITAL, DUAL LABOR-MARKETS OR GENDER QUEUING

This case study of the banking industry, 1940-1980, examines three com peting theories of increases in women's labor force participation. Com bining census and industry regulatory data, three models of the femini zation process are compared: human capital, dual labor market, and gen der queuing. The gender queuing model best explains empirical variatio n in industry-level feminization. Clerical intensity (the proportion o f clerical jobs to all jobs in the industry), especially, makes the su bstitution of female labor a cost-cutting alternative. Theories of fem inization must incorporate spatial and temporal variation in the causa l strength of relevant social forces. Gender queuing theory is best eq uipped to do this, as it allows for better historical interpretation o f how varied social forces, both economic and patriarchal, impinge on class and gendered actors. Gender queuing theory subsumes determinants of feminization found in other theories while rejecting both their un tenable assumptions and their interpretations of how labor markets act ually function.