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Socio-Economic Advancement and Long-Term Trends in the Gender Gap in Early Career Occupational Status in France 1860–1960

By on April 6, 2026 in Articles

Wiebke Schulz, Ineke Maas, Marco H.D. van Leeuwen

Sociological Science April 6, 2026
10.15195/v13.a15

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The stark reduction in gender inequality on the labor market is one of the most profound social changes over the past century. However, little is known about the development of the gender gap in occupational status. This study provides new evidence on the gap in occupational status early in men’s and women’s careers during a phase of rapid socio-economic change. We use an exceptionally rich dataset that combines French marriage certificates containing data on almost 50,000 brides and grooms from 1860 to 1960 with time-varying data on socio-economic advancement for the hundred French departments. From 1910 onwards, the gender gap in occupational status at marriage declined. Around 1940, the gap turned around in favor of women. As expected, labor market opportunities as well as technological development were associated with a reduction of the gender gap in status. Reaching gender equity, however, depends on a specific interplay of socio-economic forces. Technological developments only reduce the gender status gap when paired with expanded occupational opportunities for women.
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Wiebke Schulz: Universität Bremen.
E-mail: wschulz@uni-bremen.de.

Ineke Maas: Utrecht University and VU University Amsterdam.
E-mail: i.maas@uu.nl.

Marco H. D. van Leeuwen: Utrecht University.
E-mail: M.H.D.vanLeeuwen@uu.nl.

Acknowledgments: Versions of this article were presented at WZB Berlin and the University of Bremen. Thanks to Lena Hipp, Lara Minkus, and Philipp M. Lersch for helpful feedback on past drafts of this article. We thank Ruta Daktariunaite and Henri Breuer for excellent research assistance. This study received funding as part of an Advanced Investigator Grant from the European Research Council (TowardsOpenSocieties) awarded to Marco H.D. van Leeuwen.


Supplemental Materials

Reproducibility Package: Code necessary to reproduce the results is available at: osf.io/6dsnt. The data used in this study are available in accordance with the access conditions specified on the respective websites: the TRA data were supplied to us by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, MONA, that subsequently merged with the IRSTEA (Institut national de recherche en
sciences et technologies pour l’environnement et l’agriculture) to create the INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement), https://www.inrae.fr/. The TRA data are now available from the INED (Institut national d’études démographiques): https://tra.site.ined.fr/en/databases/getting-the-data/


  • Citation: Schulz, Wiebke, Ineke Maas, and Marco H. D. van Leeuwen. 2026. “Socio-Economic Advancement and Long-Term Trends in the Gender Gap in Early Career Occupational Status in France 1860–1960” Sociological Science 13: 332-361.
  • Received: November 19, 2025
  • Accepted: February 17, 2026
  • Editors: Ari Adut, Jeremy Freese
  • DOI: 10.15195/v13.a15


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Life-Course Differences in Occupational Mobility Between Vocationally and Generally Trained Workers in Germany

By on November 14, 2023 in Articles

Viktor Decker, Thijs Bol, Hanno Kruse

Sociological Science November 14, 2023
10.15195/v10.a30

Abstract

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Vocational education is considered beneficial to young workers entering the labor market but disadvantageous late in their careers. Many studies assume that late-career disadvantages stem from lower levels of occupational mobility, but do not explicitly study this mechanism. This study is the first to empirically assess whether and to what extent occupational mobility differs between workers with a general education and those with vocational training and to examine how these differences develop over workers’ life courses. Using multilevel linear probability models on panel data spanning 36 years of labor market participation in Germany, we find that vocationally educated workers are less mobile, but only in the first half of their careers. In the second half, mobility rates for vocationally and generally trained workers converge. Our findings support earlier research that links vocational education to less turbulent early careers. Yet, they do not support the notion of late-career mobility disparities between workers with different types of training. Implications for research on education-based differences in career outcomes are discussed.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Viktor Decker: Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam
E-mail: v.v.decker@uva.nl

Thijs Bol: Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam
E-mail: t.bol@uva.nl

Hanno Kruse: Institute of Political Science and Sociology, University of Bonn
E-mail: hkruse@uni-bonn.de

Acknowledgements: The research was supported by the ERC starting grant From School to Career: Towards A Career Perspective on the Labor Market Returns to Education (ID: 950189). Previous versions of this article were presented at the ISA RC28 conference 2022 at London School of Economics, the ECSR annual conference 2022 at University of Amsterdam, and at multiple events organized by the Dutch Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology.

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: Decker, Viktor, Thijs Bol, and Hanno Kruse. 2023. “Life-Course Differences in Occupational Mobility Between Vocationally and Generally Trained Workers in Germany.” Sociological Science 10: 857-879.
  • Received: May 3, 2023
  • Accepted: May 26, 2023
  • Editors: Ari Adut, Richard Breen
  • DOI: 10.15195/v10.a30


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The Rise of Programming and the Stalled Gender Revolution

By on April 30, 2019 in Articles

Siwei Cheng, Bhumika Chauhan, Swati Chintala

Sociological Science, April 30, 2019
10.15195/v6.a13

Abstract
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Despite remarkable progress toward gender equality over the past half-century, the stalled convergence in the gender wage gap after the mid-1990s remains a puzzle. This study provides new insights into this puzzle by conducting the first large-scale investigation of the uneven impact of the rise of programming in the labor market for men and women since the mid-1990s. We argue that the increasing reliance on programming has favored men’s economic status relative to women’s and therefore may help explain the slow convergence of the gender wage gap. We differentiate between two effects: (1) the composition effect, wherein men experience a greater employment growth in programming-intensive occupations relative to women, and (2) the price effect, wherein the wage returns to programming intensity increase more for men than women. Our empirical analysis documents a strong relationship between the rise of programming and the slow convergence of the gender wage gap among college graduates. Counterfactual simulations indicate that the absence of the composition and price effects would have reduced the gender wage gap over the past two decades by an additional 14.70 percent. These findings call attention to the role gender institutions play in shaping the uneven labor market impact of technological change.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Siwei Cheng: Department of Sociology, New York University
E-mail: siwei.cheng@nyu.edu

Bhumika Chauhan: Department of Sociology, New York University
E-mail: bhumikachauhan@nyu.edu

Swati Chintala: Department of Sociology, New York University
E-mail: swati.chintala@nyu.edu

Acknowledgements: Direct all correspondence to Siwei Cheng, assistant professor of sociology at New York University (295 Lafayette St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10012). The authors acknowledge support from the Summer Research Fund at the Department of Sociology at New York University. The second and third authors contributed equally to the project. We thank Paula England, Kathleen Gerson, Claudia Goldin, Mike Hout, and Yu Xie for helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. This article was presented at the Harvard University Social Demography Seminar. All remaining errors are our own.

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: Cheng, Siwei, Bhumika Chauhan, and Swati Chintala. 2019. “The Rise of Programming and the Stalled Gender Revolution.” Sociological Science 6:321-351.
  • Received: December 18, 2018
  • Accepted: March 6, 2019
  • Editors: Jesper Sørensen, Kim Weeden
  • DOI: 10.15195/v6.a13


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At the Expense of Quality

By on June 28, 2018 in Articles

Brittany M. Bond, Tatiana Labuzova, Roberto M. Fernandez

Sociological Science, June 28, 2018
10.15195/v5.a17

Abstract
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Many organizations use employee referral programs to incentivize employees to refer potential applicants from their social networks. Employers frequently offer a monetary bonus to employees who refer an applicant, and this is often contingent on whether the person is then hired and retained for a given length of time. In deciding whether to refer someone, referrers face a potential role conflict, as they need to balance their motivations for helping connections find job opportunities with concerns regarding their reputations with their employers. To the extent that monetary incentives shift an employee’s considerations away from finding the best matches for the employer, referral bonuses may increase the chances that lower-quality candidates are referred. Using a survey vignette experiment, we find that even a small referral bonus increases the likelihood that referrers will refer lower-quality candidates, and they are more likely to refer people they do not know well. We further discuss theoretical and practical implications regarding the efficiency of incentivized referral programs in producing quality applicant pools for employers.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Brittany M. Bond: Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E-mail: bbond@mit.edu

Tatiana Labuzova: Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E-mail: labuzova@mit.edu

Roberto M. Fernandez: Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E-mail: robertof@mit.edu

Acknowledgements: We thank our colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management and elsewhere for their feedback on earlier versions of this article. We have also benefitted from help, advice, and feedback from Matthew Amengual, Rhett Andrew Brymer, Santiago Campero, John Carroll, Emilio Castilla, Minjae Kim, Ezra Zuckerman Sivan, Heather Yang, and participants in the Economic Sociology Working Group at MIT Sloan and the Ninth Annual Meeting of the People and Organizations Conference at The Wharton School.

Supplemental Material

  • Citation: Bond, Brittany M., Tatiana Labuzova, and Roberto M. Fernandez. 2018. “At the Expense of Quality.” Sociological Science 5: 380-401.
  • Received: March 27, 2018
  • Accepted: April 17, 2018
  • Editors: Jesper Sørensen, Mario Small
  • DOI: 10.15195/v5.a17

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