The issues of gender discrimination and segregation in the Italian labour market are analyzed in this paper, with a view to understanding whether the public sector is able to mitigate discriminatory outcomes. Based on the analysis of a sample of graduate workers observed 5 years after their degree, provided by the AlmaLaurea consortium, we find: (i) network-based job search channels are more intensely used by women and in the private sector, even when controlling for public examinations; (ii) vertical segregation in similar across sectors; (iii) women employed in the public sector are characterized by higher job satisfaction; (iv) in an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of wage differ- entials across genders, the share attributable to discrimination in the public sector is lower.