Dear COR community,

You are cordially invited to participate in a COR Faculty Workshop where we will discuss a paper by Prof. Sharon Koppman (Merage), “The Glass Hallway: Why Men Get Core Jobs in Feminized Occupations” (see abstract below).

Friday, November 18

1:30-3:00

SBSG 1321

(Late) lunch will be provided.

Professors Matt Huffman (Social Sciences) and Melissa Mazmanian (Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences) will serve as discussants, before we open it up to everyone’s input.

Sharon Koppman

The Glass Hallway: Why Men Get Core Jobs in Feminized Occupations

In light of a large literature on occupational sex segregation, advertising stands apart.  Within this feminized occupation, women show high interest, aptitude, and qualifications for creative work, yet relatively few are employed in creative jobs.  I explain this empirical puzzle through an overlooked source of sex segregation: beliefs that circulate within occupations.  By analyzing in-depth interviews (N=54) with advertising practitioners, I reveal how beliefs that circulate within advertising-specifically, the male ideal of the emotional and independent creative person-inform individual decisions to stay in creative jobs or leave.  Through the use of primary survey data (N=351), I demonstrate that identification with this internal ideal patterns sex segregation.  Together, this study suggests that, much like the “glass escalator” lifts men in feminized occupations into management, these occupational beliefs provide a “glass hallway” through which men stride into the jobs defined as most desirable within the occupation itself.