Gender, Education, and Work: Labour Market Outcomes in Care and Non-Care Fields in Italy and Finland

A substantial body of research indicates that graduates’ field of study is a key predictor of the gender wage gap. While previous studies often compare groups based on women's minority status in a given field, we reframe this by distinguishing between care and non-care fields—defined by their links to stereotypically feminized characteristics. Using administrative data from Italy and Finland, we firstly investigate whether gender gaps in wages and other significant aspects of jobs differ between graduates of care- and non-care related fields of study. Second, adopting a comparative perspective, we further examine whether these gender gaps vary between Italy and Finland, two countries with different levels of gender inequality. Findings support the gender comparative advantage argument that women experience smaller gaps in outcomes when graduating from care-oriented fields than other fields, narrowing disparities in employment, wages, and job authority, and eliminating gender disparities in access to high-service occupations. Analyses are broadly consistent across Italy and Finland, suggesting limited cross-country variation in gender gaps in outcomes when comparing care and non-care fields. Keywords: Care fields; Gender gap; Labour market; Administrative data; Comparative research