Existing studies find that men are more likely to signal skills that involve analytical and technical capabilities, while women tend to report skills that demand interpersonal and emotional competency — a pattern commonly attributed to gender typing. We argue that this focus on horizontal differentiation obscures a more consequential vertical stratification. We propose that skill signaling is better examined as a gendered status-claiming process, governed by the prestige and economic rewards associated with these skills as much as their content. Using U.S. LinkedIn profiles, we replicate previous findings of gender typing. Yet when stratifying skills by status reveals a different pattern, we find men are more likely to signal high-status skills across all domains — including those requiring communication, relational, and emotional competencies. The disparity persists between men and women matched on labor market characteristics. The findings suggest that gender disparities in skill signaling are organized less by what competencies workers claim than by whether they claim high-status skills — a dynamic that may help explain why the growing importance of interpersonal skills has not produced commensurate gains for women.

About the speaker:

KEN-HOU LIN is Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and author of "Divested: Inequality in the Age of Finance." Lin's primary research projects examine how economic and demographic transformations reshape the distribution of resources. He also explores how the internet emerges as both a space and a tool to help understand contemporary societies. Lin's research has appeared in American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Annual Review of Sociology, Organization Science, Social Forces, and Demography. His research projects have been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 20 May, 2026

🕑 Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm

📍 Venue: CJT-9.29

🗣️ Speaker: Prof. Ken-Hou LIN

🔗 Register here: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=106259