Worldwide, employers have used this gender ideology to their advantage. Women are paid less because women belong in the home jobs. As women accept low pay for doing home jobs, the economic structure as well as the gender ideology that rewards men with higher pay are perpetuated. In essence, women working in their homes for pay help to create and reinforce barriers that women often face when seeking out-of-the home jobs.  On the other hand, defining home jobs as women’s work closes off to men some avenues for earning a livelihood.

How does this often held perception that the home jobs or dwelling is a "woman’s place" and thus work done there for pay is women’s work influence employment choices? Regionally and more locally, certain patterns can result. For example, if " home jobs" grounded work is invisible or not highly or publicly regarded, it might well be en-gendered as "women’s."  Wives in Baggara households in the Sudan, for example, buy food supplements for the herds cared for by their husbands and market the milk. This is considered "women’s" work and is an important source of household income. Nevertheless, women’s role in maintaining herd health is not publicly acknowledged as animal husbandry as this is "men’s" work. Women in Eastern Turkey work for their husband’s families as unpaid laborers. This work is invisible and not socially acknowledged.

In Australia, women are particularly attracted to home jobs. Women with home jobs made up 6% of all employed women in 1995 compared to men with home jobs who constituted 2% of all employed men. In numbers, women (230,700) also surpassed men (112,600) in pursuing home jobs. Over 2 million of these were owned by women. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that more than 4.1 million self-employed persons were working in home jobs in May 1997. Managers and professionals accounted for more that 1.7 million of those working in home jobs. About 2.1 million persons with home jobs were working in services, about 726,000 in construction, and 532,000 in retail trade. Workers in home jobs worked on average 23 hours per week.

It seems clear that some occupations and activities done at home jobs are perceived in the U.S. culture as masculine and the domain of men, such as construction or plumbing. But some women also run these types of home jobs. Other home jobs in the United States are feminine to the extent that large proportions of those with such employment are women (e.g., food service, beautician). Men in such occupations tend to earn less income than do men in other home jobs occupations. Although «home jobs " space is often considered the province of women, in some cases men are in control of home jobs or wage labor that takes place in this space.