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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.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


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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