Navigating the Gendered Landscape: The Impact of Institutional Participation and Professional Culture in Shaping Inequality

The Gender Revolution significantly improved women’s status, but recent progress towards equity is “uneven and stalled” (England 2010:149). This dissertation uncovers the complex role of institutional processes in shaping the evolution and persistence of gender inequality. The first study offers a macro-level analysis trends in men and women’s perceptions of mastery across the life course of different cohorts. Perceptions of mastery —control over one’s life— reflect differences in status and gendered notions of agency (Connell 1987; 2005). Institutional participation —educational achievement and employment levels— is key in shaping movement towards and away from gender equality. While high levels of education and employment lead to converging perceptions of mastery, the effect of institutional participation is strongly gendered: women benefitted more from education, while men are penalized more when working less than full-time. Workforce participation emerged as a key driver of men’s higher perceptions of agency in younger cohorts. Drawing on the legal profession as a case study, subsequent studies highlight the role of workplace culture in shaping gender inequality. Using longitudinal data on private sector lawyers, the second paper finds norms of hegemonic masculinity —measured as technical competence, authoritative leadership, work devotion, breadwinner status, and individual preferences— (re)create wage inequality across the earnings distribution. The analysis further uncovers a hierarchy of valuation based on gender and parental status, as fathers earn the highest wage premiums, followed by mothers; women without children earn the least after controls. The final paper investigates how perceptions of professional fit —signaled by professional role confidence (PRC)— shapes perceptions of job security among early-career lawyers. The legal profession is marked by a ‘masculine mystique’ that challenge female lawyers’ PRC —measured as expertise confidence and career fit. Findings indicate that men derive higher perceptions of job security for the same levels of PRC, explaining women’s lower perceptions of job security. Professional fit therefore reinforces gender inequality, possibly through women’s awareness (but not internalization) of their lower status in law. This dissertation provides a nuanced understanding of gender inequality, with institutional participation and culture emerging as key mechanisms shaping the dynamic evolution of gender inequality.