Moore, Sian, William, Laura ORCID: 0000-0002-1985-7640 and Tartanoglu Bennett, Safak ORCID: 0000-0002-2858-8606 (2024) Gender: women’s labor force participation. In: Ryan, J. Michael, Ritzer, George and Rojek, Chris, (eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 12 Volumes, 2nd Edition. Wiley - Blackwell, Malden, MA. ISBN 978-0470655504

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Abstract

Women’s labor market participation is shaped by the household division of labor, gender divisions of paid work, and gender ideology. These relationships are not fixed but are continually renegotiated, historically and industrially specific, and linked to particular stages of capitalism. Globally women are more likely to engage in the informal economy, and the United Nations aims to encourage their paid labor market activity. While women’s formal participation varies globally, and has not changed in some regions, there is convergence in a number of states between the rates of male and female participation in paid work. However, vertical and horizontal segregation and gender pay gaps persist. Occupational segregation means that women are disproportionately concentrated in health and social care, education, and retail work. Gender hierarchies are reproduced by organizational practices justified through narratives of women’s reproduction, sexuality, and emotionality. The failure of equal pay legislation to close the gender pay gap has prompted further legal measures in a number of countries. The wider context of COVID-19, climate change, and the extension of automation and artificial intelligence offer possibilities for the reorganization of both paid and unpaid work, including a shorter working week, that could finally challenge gender inequality in the labor market.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	gender; labour force participation; discrimination
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business
Last Modified:	10 May 2024 12:11
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/47129

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