This dissertation incorporates the economic theory of compensating wage differentials into a human capital model of occupational choice. The model determines the extent to which job characteristics can explain sex differences in the distribution of occupation choices. Demand functions for general and occupation-specific human capital are developed to investigate how male and female occupation choice vary with respect to preferences for working conditions. It is found that unpleasant working conditions account for a significant proportion of sex differences in demands for general and occupation-specific human capital. Qualitative response models of occupational choice are utilized to determine explicitly how sex differences in preferences for working conditions might affect the occupational distribution of men and women. Our findings indicate that if women had the same preferences for working conditions as men, the occupational distribution of women would change considerably. In fact, about 48 percent of the actual differences in the occupational distribution of men and women can be accounted for by differences in preferences for working conditions. Our empirical findings yield the conclusion that men and women differ in their evaluations of job characteristics. If the variation in unpleasant working conditions were to decrease, then our results imply that a significant portion of occupational segregation by sex would be eliminated. Our results also support the hypothesis of Filer and others that working conditions contribute significantly to the observed differences in the choices of occupations made by men and women.