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In summary, scholars have found evidence for both theories – the importance of st o g u io s a d olle ti e a gai i g o o e s e plo e t a d the impact of skill profiles and EPL on gender inequalities. With regard to the main research question of this thesis – the impact of family policies and labour market institutions on vertical segregation – however, we face several problems and limitations when examining these studies: First of all, the majority of studies choose employment rates, unemployment or part-time occurrence as the dependent variable. Some studies examine the gender pay gap. But only few studies such as by Schäfer et al. (2012) and Estevez-Abe (2006) examine how labour market institutions affe t o e s positio i the o upatio al hie a h , fo e a ple, a al si g o e s underrepresentation in managerial positions. What is more, among these few studies on vertical segregation, but even when examining other gender labour market inequalities, the empirical findings are rather mixed: First of all, scholars have been applying mainly aggregated data focusing on macro-level data only. In addition to that, the dynamics of institutions that are all interrelated and nested within each other has methodologically not been taken into account. Additionally, the key study undertaken by Estevez-Abe (2005) shows several limitations. Data used, especially on the share of vocational training and education to measure skill profiles, is outdated, and vertical segregation as measured by women in managerial positions seems rigid and neglects to include women in high-status professional occupations. Defining the share of female managers at the macro-level thus does not only neglect potential composition effects, but also narrows down the sample without justifying this. Following Estevez-A e s ke a gu e t of skill p ofiles, e also eed to i lude o e in highly professionalised jobs that require the accumulation of human capital, and thus investment in skills. Furthermore, not only employment protection serves as a tool to protect skills investments, but also the generosity of unemployment protection (Estevez-Abe et al., 2001). What is needed is a holistic approach capturing the impact of unemployment and employment protection on highly professionalised women holding continuing public sector employment. Consequently, the following research question needs to be examined:
Research Question 3: What else, othe tha fa il poli ies affe t o e ’s likelihood to a hie e top positio s at the i di idual le el elati e to e ’s?
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More specifically, we need to understand how exactly institutional complementarities impact highly educated women. We know from the literature that in countries with representative unions *as measured by high union density) men seem to be more likely to reach top positions than in countries with fragmented unions. While some scholars argue that women are overrepresented among outsiders and crowded out by strong unions that only represent men (Schwander and Häusermann, 2010), others (Dieckhoff et al., 2015) argue that unions are beneficial for female and male workers as they reduce overall inequalities in the labour market. Because this thesis particularly focuses on highly educated individuals and the gender gap in managerial positions, it could be assumed that labour market dualisation is not a key concern for the highly educated workforce. However, as argued by Häusermann and Kurer (201 it is pa ti ula l o e that fo the g oup of high-skilled outside s a d therefore a lack of union representation can be expected to be detrimental for highly educated women as well as for women in low skilled jobs. Thus, the following hypothesis is:
Hypothesis H3.1 Strong unions and wider collective bargaining coverage is associated with a smaller gender gap.
Strong unions representing only the core workforce seem to have a detrimental impact on the outsider workforce by further increasing labour market inequalities. If unions are strong – as indicated by collective bargaining coverage – but do not represent the overall workforce, we can expect the gender gap to be higher. Therefore, the next hypothesis is:
Hypothesis H3.2 The gender gap is expected to be higher in countries where unions are strong but only represent a small share of the workforce. High union density combined with lower collective bargaining coverage is associated with a wider gender gap, especially if women are not represented.
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Moving onto the second part of the literature presented, which is focusing on the impact of skill specificity and social protection on occupational segregation, we need to examine how labour market institutions affect human capital and how this influences both e plo e s a d e plo ees de isio s. He e, the ke theo is e t ed a ou d skill accumulation and the protection of skills. As argued by Estevez-Abe (2005, 2007), we can assume that countries with specific skill profiles value firm-specific skills. F o a e plo ee s perspective, the investment in specific skills is risky if career interruptions are likely. This is because specific skills change rapidly and do not allow for long career interruptions. Secondly, the training of skills is gender-biased as argued by Estevez-Abe (2005) and discourages women from taking specific skills up. Lastly, the portability of firm-specific skills is low between employers and thus opposes the risk of unemployment. Because women are more likely to interrupt their career for example for caring responsibilities or childbirth, Estevez- Abe (2005) assumes women choose occupations that allow them to opt out and come back easil . What is o e, f o a e plo e s pe spe ti e, the i est e t i fi -specific skills only pays off if employment relationships are long and the employee can be tied to the company. Thus, in countries with specific skill profiles, employers might prefer a male employee over a female employee who poses a risk of career interruptions or might not return at all after childbirth. Thus, we need to test the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis H3.3: A focus on firm specific skill is associated with a wider gender gap.
What is more, skill investments and social protection such as employment protection legislation can be seen as institutional complementarities. Employment protection aims to reduce the risk of employees to invest into their skills. Thus, employment protection makes it harder for the employer to lay off workers, which is why employers prefer hiring men in the first place due to the higher risk of career interruptions of female workers. Women are disadvantaged as they are less likely to be hired, and less likely to accumulate experience and human capital despite having the relevant qualifications. Consequently, the next hypothesis is:
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Hypothesis H3.4: Strict employment protection legislation or specific skill profiles are associated with a wider gender gap in managerial positions.
Unemployment benefit generosity and skill profiles can also be seen as institutional complementarities. Unemployment protection serves as a tool to protect the value of skills in the case of unemployment. In countries with sector specific skills that require specialisation but are portable within a sector, generous unemployment benefits allow workers to look for a new job matching their skills and qualifications. Thus, generous unemployment protection encourages workers to invest in occupational skills that are easily transferable, but more specific than general skills.
Generous unemployment benefits however – as a second indicator for social protection – lower the risk of investments in specific skills and encourage employees to invest in more portable sector specific skills. We can therefore expect that in countries with generous unemployment benefits, women are more likely to invest in sector specific skills, hi h ill the i ease o e s likelihood of o tai i g top positio s. Thus, the final hypothesis is:
Hypothesis H3.5: Generous unemployment benefits are associated with a smaller gender gap.
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