An Analysis of Occupational Gap: Duncan Dissimilarity Approach

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the magnitude of job segregation among male and female workers in India. For this purpose, firstly the simple dissimilarity index introduced by Duncan and Duncan will be applied. An underlying assumption in the index is that segregation leads to a different distribution of women and men across occupations. This measure denotes the share of the employed population that would need to change the occupation in order to restore equality in the distribution of men and women among various occupations. Duncan index distinguishes the occupations by gender, and the empirical difference prevailing in the occupational composition of labourers is observed; as the results indicate that the high value adding occupations are mainly dominated by substantial fractions of male workers in India. Consequently, this skewness of jobs in favour of male workers and unequal division of labour, adversely affects the labour market and perpetuates imbalances and dualism. Capitalism and the patriarchal system have a powerful control over the labour market and production process and therefore invigorate exclusion, exploitation and hierarchies. The occupational gap and constraints among the workers acts as catalyst in dividing the labour market into various segments. Secondly, the poverty estimation of workers in various occupations among different social groups will also be enumerated based on the Expert Group methodology of Tendulkar Committee. The occupational gender segregation analysis provides an insight that female workers are mainly engaged with primary sector activities and they are preferred for domestic works and child caring; therefore these activities have lower upward mobility and thus traps the female workers in poverty. On contrary, the present study will also explore the relationship between the occupational differentials by caste and poverty.