Abstract:

Women have increased their participation in higher education, exceeding male participation in many European countries. Nevertheless, female participation in professional activities is less important than male participation. The objective of this paper is to study gender differences in type of contract and salaries in graduate’s insertion to the labor market in Catalonia (Spain). We used data from the Quality Agency of the University System of Catalonia (AQU), Graduates Survey 2014. This survey corresponds to those students who graduated in 2010. Using descriptive analysis, we find that different field of study have different gender composition. According to these differences, we classify the fields of studies in masculinized and feminized degrees. The results show inequalities in the type of contract and wage compensation between male and female in all fields of studies. Furthermore, the field of study is a crucial factor to explain the gender differences in labor market conditions. Those results suggest that cultural forces lead the election process and reinforce gender segregation in the labor market.

Keywords:

Gender, labor market, university graduates.