The Facial Masculinity Of Women In Sex Segregated Occupations

Abstract

This purpose of the study was to bring more definition to the "problem" of occupational sex segregation, specifically why male-dominated occupations like engineering, firefighting, and the military still remain sex segregated. The study attempted to do so by integrating two findings: 1) the finding that women in male-dominated occupations are more dominant than women in female-dominated occupations, and 2) the finding that facially masculine women are more dominant than facially submissive women. Facial photos of women from occupations that are at least 90% male dominated and at least 90% female dominated were culled from the internet and rated for their level of facial masculinity. A variety of objective facial metrics was also measured. Of the total number of measures, only rated facial masculinity and eye-mouth-eye angle (EmE) proved significant across occupational category. Results were discussed in the context of both evolutionary and non-evolutionary theories of occupational sex segregation.