Elevator pitch
The privilege or disadvantage of individuals is not determined by a single social identity. The sexual division of labor affects women’s and men’s labor supply, the industries and occupations they enter, their earnings and progress. However, being a racial/ethnic or sexual minority (along with class and age) also influences job opportunities. Evidence shows that minority women’s experiences are unique and jointly determined by their gender and minority status, although the gender effect appears to precede that of minority.
Key findings
Pros
Individuals’ position in the labor market is the result of intertwined social categories such as gender, race/ethnicity, birthplace, sexual orientation, age, and class.
Wage gaps between White native women and minority women tend to be lower than those of their male peers.
Occupational segregation harms the wages of some minority women with especial intensity, as is the case of Black women in the US, Brazil, and South Africa.
Gender is racialized and race is genderized.
To reduce gender inequality, polices may require different interventions for majority and minority women.
Cons
Racial/ethnic groups differ across countries, which makes comparative analyses complex.
The intersectional study of gender gaps has been conducted mainly in the US with a focus on wages.
There is a lack of empirical evidence on labor outcomes with more than two axes of disadvantage.
Many labor market data sets outside the US do not include information to identify minority groups.
Sample size limitations exist for some minority groups.
