Tracing the Glass Ceiling for the Highly Educated across Professions. Evidence for Sweden 1970 – 1990.

Abstract: The Glass Ceiling is a proven and documented phenomenon for several countries. This paper tries to trace its existence of changing behaviour in the gender pay gap across the income distribution between the periods 1970 and 1990, and through a selection of professions for the highly educated individuals. This will show at the same time the transformation suffered by Swedish labor market between those 20 years, because of the affluence of higher educated individuals, especially women, into the work force; as well as the change in policies regarding childbearing. The analysis was done through a methodology that allowed for changes in the quality of the individuals, as well as analysing changes in the returns. Furthermore it allows for a deep understanding in what the explanations behind the glass ceiling are and what can be applied to the case under study.