Testing Gender segregation hypothesis in the Iranian Labor Market

Gender segregation of labor force is a sign indicating inequality in the labor market, while labor market inequality itself is a symptom of social inequalities. This paper attempts to test the ‘gender job segregation hypothesis’ in the Iranian labor market by applying the Duncan Index. The results confirm the hypothesis; the existence of the gender job segregation in the sectors as well as in occupational levels in the 1992-2006 period. The period, as the findings reveal, experiences a decreasing trend of gender segregation in the economic sectors, whereas an increasing trend is shown when the index for occupational segregation is considered.