Spatial Clustering of Women's Employment: Causes and Implications

对马萨诸塞州伍斯特四个女性就业率高的人口普查地区的雇主和雇员进行的深入访谈将阐明女性就业机会在大都市区域内空间集中和与男性就业分离的过程。一组男性及其雇主也将接受采访，以确定收入和教育等令人困惑的变量的重要性。这项研究将把雇主和雇员的感知和行动与关于按行业、职业和地点存在的性别隔离的综合背景信息结合起来。汉森和普拉特教授在之前的工作中记录了大都市地区女性主导的行业和职业的独特集群。该项目将在他们早期研究的基础上，通过确定造成空间就业性别隔离的因素，并通过开发一种综合的理论解释，解释为什么会按行业、职业和地点进行性别隔离，并对此进行扩展。它还将强调地点的作用，特别是通过探讨特定地点的居住在多大程度上限制妇女在不同类型的工作和职业中的选择。汉森教授和普拉特教授的研究将促进我们对大都市劳动力市场和大都市地区就业机会位置的理解。除了这些基本的理论进步外，他们的工作还将产生有益于政策制定者和规划者的结果，这些政策制定者和规划者关心的是劳动力效率和生产率最大化。

In-depth interviews conducted with both employers and employees in four census tracts with high female employment in Worcester, Massachusetts will elucidate the processes by which employment opportunities for females become spatially concentrated and segregated from male employment within metropolitan regions. A control group of males and their employers will also be interviewed to identify the importance of confounding variables such as income and education. This research will integrate the perceptions and actions of employers and employees with aggregate contextual information regarding the existence of gender segregation by industry, occupation, and location. Professors Hanson and Pratt have in previous work documented distinct clusters of female-dominated industries and occupations within metropolitan areas. This project will build upon and extend their earlier research by identifying the forces that generate the gender segregation of employment in space and by developing an integrated theoretical explanation of why gender segregation by industry, occupation, and location occurs. It will also highlight the role of location in particular by exploring the degree to which residence in particular places constrains the choices women have among different kinds of jobs and careers. Professor Hanson and Pratt's research will advance our understanding of metropolitan labor markets and the locations of employment opportunities within metropolitan areas. In addition to such basic theoretical advances, their work will yield results that will be useful for policy makers and planners concerned with maximizing labor force effectiveness and productivity.