The Combined Impact of Workplace and Occupational Gender Composition on Workers’ Mental Health and Employment Consequences

We examine whether the gender composition of one’s workplace influences mental health and employment consequences and whether these associations vary for men and women. We test the impact of perceived gender dissimilarity and the aggregate averaged gender composition of the respondent’s occupation. Our study is situated in the mid 2000’s, when women’s labor market participation was comparable to men’s. We use nationally-representative individual-level data from the American Work Stress and Health Survey matched to occupation-level data. We find perceived gender-dissimilarity is associated with worse mental health and employment consequences in feminized occupations. Respondents’ gender partially impacts these associations.