Gender role attitudes and the reproduction of occupational sex segregation: an analysis of attitudes towards women’s voluntary childlessness in Europe

This article contributes to the literature on gender role attitudes and the reproduction of occupational sex segregation by investigating how attitudes towards women’s voluntary childlessness relate to the embeddedness of individuals in sex-typed occupations. While previous studies have found that more favourable attitudes are more common among women than men, they have not established why this is so. We argue that the differing allocation of men and women to sex-typed occupations carries gender-specific pressures towards gender-role congruence, which are likely to shape the perceived costs of motherhood and, hence, attitudes towards female childlessness differently. We test this argument by drawing on European Social Survey data. Findings show that women with more favourable attitudes are most likely to work in male-dominated occupations and hold high-status positions, highlighting the enduring force and differentiated saliency of gender beliefs across sex-segregated occupations. We discuss the implications for the reproduction of occupational sex segregation.