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Unlimited unskilled labour and the sex segregation of occupations in Jamaica
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One reason for this is that in less developed countries, the vast majority of the labour force tends to be unskilled. In Jamaica, over 70 per cent of workers have no training. The legacy of slavery has also meant that females have been an integral part of the Caribbean labour force for centuries. The fact that Jamaica’s labour force has been dominated by low- skilled and/or informal jobs, and that Caribbean females have always been in the labour force, have meant that males and females have been grouped into the same low-pay, low-skill categories. This has translated into lower rates of OSS than the developed world. In the developed world, widespread female labour force participation can only be dated to the 1960s and 1970s; there has been more occupational diversity (instead of a large pool of unskilled labour), and men have tended to outperform women in terms of wages and prestigious professions. This is drastically different from the Jamaican experience.
Another reason that Figure 1 is so deceptive is that job categories changed in 1993. Before that time, the largest category (by far) was “self-employed and independent occupations”. This “catch- all” category included any labour scheme whereby people managed to make money without legally being in the employ of someone else. The “unskilled manual and general occupations” category had the same characteristic; and by 1990, 53.5 percent of males fell into these categories, compared with 38.8 percent of females. Once the “self-employed and independent occupations” category was eliminated in 1993, sex segregation seemed to go up, since these workers were distributed to other categories.
On the surface, OSS seems to have risen in Jamaica, while it has fallen in the developed world. However, this is largely a statistical illusion. In reality, the pattern of OSS in Jamaica, perhaps, had never fitted the pattern prevalent in developed countries because of slavery and the particularities of our culture. Moreover, even when we seek to define our Caribbean reality, characterised by low rates of male achievement compared with female achievement, our central argument (If OSS is increasing, it is because females are doing much better than their male counterparts) is often flawed.. Yet, arguments about “problematic masculinity” have become an accepted explanation for the male achievement gap, even though they never really establish that male attitudes were markedly different in the past (when males were supposedly successful). A more historical and empirical argument is that a change in the structure of the economy— namely, the change from an agricultural economy with a vibrant
mining sector, to a service-based economy—has meant the ascension of classically “female” jobs, while key “male” jobs have either disappeared or gone into decline. Could problematic notions of manhood be exacerbating males’ achievement woes? Certainly. However, masculinity has tended to be viewed in isolation, as if the female population—indeed, society— has nothing to do with its construction. Feminists have long understood that femininity is not solely something created by females, so why would masculinity be solely a male creation that must be “fixed” by males?
More to the point, many “female” occupations —like teaching, nursing and clerical jobs —are now more stable, more lucrative and more in demand than traditional “male” occupations. The rise of (traditionally “female”) service--sector jobs may thus require greater emphasis on breaking down the stereotyping of classically “female” occupations so as to provide opportunities (and realistic expectations) to young men entering the labour force.
Data and Methodology
The research data were transcribed from the Labour Force Survey of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), a quarterly survey usually based on a one percent sample of the Jamaican population. In 2012, this represented some 28,448 individuals. All available years are used (1968–1969 and 1972–2013). The researchers calculated the Duncan Index of Sex Segregation for all available years. The index represents the proportion of males/ females that would need to change occupations for labour force equality to be achieved.
This article by Heather E. RICKETTS and avid V. BERNARD was published in International Labour Review, Vol. 154 (2015), No. 4.
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