Sex segregation by field of study and the influence of labor markets: Evidence from 39 countries

Data from 39 countries for the years 2008-2011 are used to explore how features of a country's labor market influence sex segregation by field of study in higher education. A new feature of this empirical study is the use of the system generalized method of moments (system-GMM) to analyze these relationships. Two new labor market variables are included in this study: a measure of a country's economic protections for women and the national unemployment rate. After controlling for the level of economic development and characteristics of each country's tertiary system, the results indicate that labor market variables have an important impact on sex segregation by field of study. All else equal, countries that protect women's economic rights are associated with lower levels of sex segregation by field. Although the finding is less robust, the empirical evidence also supports that countries with higher unemployment rates experience lower levels of sex segregation.