An important feature of the labor market in recent years has been the increasing participation of women, particularly married women. Many analysts suggest, however, that women comprise a secondary labor market where rates of pay and promotion prospects are inferior to those available to men. The principal reason is that women
have, or are assumed to have, domestic responsibilities that compete with paid employment. Such domestic responsibilities are strongly influenced by social values, which require women to give priority to home and family over paid employment.
The difficulties that women face in the labor market and in their ability to reach senior positions in organizations are accentuated with the arrival of children. In order to become full-time employees, women with children must overcome the problems of finding good, affordable child care and the psychological barriers of workplace marginality. Some women balance domestic and workplace commitments by working part-time. However, part-time work is a precarious form of employment. Women parttimers are often the first laid off in a difficult economy. These workers are often referred to as the “reserve army” of female labor.
One researcher has found that approximately 80 percent of women in their twenties who have children remain at home. Such women who later return to work represent another sector of the workforce facing difficulties. When the typical houseworker returns to the labor market, she is unsure of herself in her new environment. This doubt is accentuated by her recent immersion in housework, a very private form of work. Without recent employment experience, these women confront a restricted range of opportunities and will almost certainly be offered low-status jobs with poor prospects.
Even women professionals who interrupt their careers to have children experience difficulties. Their technical skills may become rusty or obsolete, important networks of business contacts are broken, and their delayed return to work may mean that they are likely to come up for promotion well after the age that would be otherwise normal. Consequently, women, even those of high ability, may find themselves blocked in the lower echelons of an organization, overlooked, or even “invisible” to senior management.
have, or are assumed to have, domestic responsibilities that compete with paid employment. Such domestic responsibilities are strongly influenced by social values, which require women to give priority to home and family over paid employment.
The difficulties that women face in the labor market and in their ability to reach senior positions in organizations are accentuated with the arrival of children. In order to become full-time employees, women with children must overcome the problems of finding good, affordable child care and the psychological barriers of workplace marginality. Some women balance domestic and workplace commitments by working part-time. However, part-time work is a precarious form of employment. Women parttimers are often the first laid off in a difficult economy. These workers are often referred to as the “reserve army” of female labor.
One researcher has found that approximately 80 percent of women in their twenties who have children remain at home. Such women who later return to work represent another sector of the workforce facing difficulties. When the typical houseworker returns to the labor market, she is unsure of herself in her new environment. This doubt is accentuated by her recent immersion in housework, a very private form of work. Without recent employment experience, these women confront a restricted range of opportunities and will almost certainly be offered low-status jobs with poor prospects.
Even women professionals who interrupt their careers to have children experience difficulties. Their technical skills may become rusty or obsolete, important networks of business contacts are broken, and their delayed return to work may mean that they are likely to come up for promotion well after the age that would be otherwise normal. Consequently, women, even those of high ability, may find themselves blocked in the lower echelons of an organization, overlooked, or even “invisible” to senior management.
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