Gender and Jobs: Prestige Standings of Occupations as Affected by Gender

Our main objective is the measurement of prestige for the full range of men's and women's occupations and of gender incumbency effects on prestige; subsidiary goals include examination of rater and job characteristics. The research design combines the approach of controlled experiments with that of the sample survey. Household and college sample respondents each rate 110 occupations using standard NORC prestige methods and metrics. Our findings support the theoretical assumption that incumbent prestige ratings represent achieved occupational status as modified by ascribed sex of incumbent, rather than as some more equal mix of gender prestige and occupational prestige. Occupation remains the major contributor to prestige. Sex of incumbent affects householders' ratings, while college students do not make this differentiation. Sex composition influences female and high-status raters in each sample. However, the near equity in subjective occupational repute is unrelated to the actual resources of jobs. Methodological conclusions are also drawn.