OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION AND LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN: CASE OF NORTH CYPRUS

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies on North Cyprus labor market argued that occupationalgender segregation is one of the major cause of low female labor forceparticipation. We aim to shed light on this argument by investigating theextent, patterns and the sources of occupational gender segregation in NorthCyprus labor market for 11 years (2004-2014). Segregation measured by D-Index for9 broad occupational categories for total, and across rural and urban regionsemploying Household Employment Surveys data. Results show that totaloccupational gender segregation is high and persistent in North Cyprus.Decomposition of the index show that the main reason for the increase insegregation level is net segregation; the increase in the gender composition ofindividual occupations. We conclude that high and persistent occupationalgender segregation leads to the segmentation of labor market as male and femaleoccupations limiting the mobility of women between occupations affectingwomen’s labor force participation negatively.

Keywords

• mesleki ayrışma
• toplumsal cinsiyet
• occupational segregation
• gender