Decomposing Gender Segregation

Abstract

We make some remarks on the class of additively decomposable segregation measures regarding its decomposition. We discuss the implications of the parameter's choice on the decomposition analysis. Only for the parameter equal to zero or one the within and the between-groups terms are independent. In empirical works, these values should be preferred, especially if the between-groups component has a high value. Further, the democratic denomination is appropriate concerning the decomposition if the measure's parameter is equal to one-half. We illustrate how this class of measures can be used to analyze the gender decomposition evolution considering some values of the parameter using a household sample survey.