Artikel erschienen in:
Kreimer, Margareta (2004): Labor Market Segregation and the Gender-based Division
of Labor. The European Journal of Women's Studies, Vol 11 (2), 223-246.
Labour Market Segregation and the Gender-based Division of Labour
Abstract
The article is based on the argument that labour market segregation is an important
factor contributing to women’s inequality in the labour market. Therefore any equal
opportunities policy has to be combined with a policy to reduce segregation. But up to
now segregation has been extremely persistent, as it will be shown in a short empirical
overview of segregation in the Austrian labour market. It is argued that the roots of this
phenomenon lie in the assignment of men and women to the market area and the
reproduction area according to the breadwinner model. Labour market segregation by
sex can be seen as a transformation and continuation of the asymmetrical gender
relation in the family to the labour market. Most of the mechanisms and processes that
occur every day in the labour market work together to preserve sex segregation.
Strategies to reduce segregation should look at these historical roots of segregation
and at the connection with the overall gender division of labour. Different perspectives
on a reduction of labour market segregation will be presented.
Keywords
Austria, gender division of labour, labour market segregation, perspectives on the
reduction of segregation, separated spheres.
Biographical note:
Margareta Kreimer is assistant professor for economics in the Department of
Economics at the University of Graz, Austria. She completed her PhD in 1997 at the
University of Graz. Her research interests include labour market theory and policy, the
1
economics of the welfare state, feminist economics, discrimination theory, economic
policy. Address: Department of Economics, Universitaetsstrasse 15, A-8010 Graz,
Austria. Email: margareta.kreimer@uni-graz.at.
2
Labour Market Segregation and the Gender-based Division of Labour
Introduction
The labour market integration of women in Austria, as well as in all other industrialised
countries, is based to a great extent on gender division. Although the female
participation rate is steadily increasing, there are no significant changes in the
structure and conditions of female employment. Women get jobs in those sectors
where many women are already employed (horizontal segregation), career and income
perspectives of women are limited in comparison to men (vertical segregation), and the
recent development of increasing atypical employment has clear gender-related
aspects (vertical segregation through types of employment) (Charles 1992, Hakim
1993, Rubery and Fagan 1993, 1995, Anker 1998).
Sex segregation in the labour market is a significant cause of sexual disadvantage. At
the same time, sex segregation itself is influenced and stabilised by gender
discrimination. Therefore any equal opportunities policy has to be combined with a
policy to reduce sex segregation. It is not surprising that the reduction of labour market
segregation is part of the Employment Strategy of the EU (Rubery and Fagan 1998).
But up to now, segregation has been extremely persistent: Although specific measures
to reduce segregation have been added to labour market policy (e.g. subsidies for girls
to take up male-dominated jobs and so on), the level of segregation has not decreased
significantly.
To be able to develop effective strategies against sex segregation presupposes a
detailed analysis of segregation. For this purpose it is important, (1) not to restrict the
analysis to the labour market but to use a wide definition of ‘work’ by looking at the
3
gender division in all kinds of work, and (2) to look at the historical roots of
segregation.
The paper starts with a short empirical overview of sex segregation in the Austrian
labour market. Afterwards the question of why segregation is such a problem will be
analysed. Strategies to reduce segregation will be developed by looking at the
historical roots of segregation and the connection with the overall gender division of
labour. Different perspectives of a reduction of labour market segregation will be
presented in the last part of the paper.
Labour Market Segregation: Some empirical facts for Austria
Following the calculations of the ILO (Anker 1998) 61 % of all employed persons in
Austria would have to change their occupations in order to reach an equal distribution
of women and men in all occupations. This value of the (standardised) index of
dissimilarity indicates a level of segregation that lies clearly above the OECD average.
National calculations show slightly lower figures (Kreimer 1999, Leitner 2000, Leitner
and Wroblewski 2000), but the overall picture is the same: Summary index measures
present a picture of persistently high levels of segregation for the past 20 years.1
A more informative analysis of horizontal segregation is obtained by looking at the sex
shares of occupational groups and the related dimension of employment concentration
for men and women (Rubery and Fagan 1998: 58). Data for Austria confirm the picture
of a ‘segregated integration’ of women into the labour market (Kreimer 1999, Finder
and Blaschke 1999, Leitner and Wroblewski 2000). The main characteristics of
segregation that can be found in most industrialised countries (see for instance Rubery
4
and Fagan 1993, Heintz et al. 1997, Anker 1998) can also be found in Austria:
-
Female employment is more concentrated than male employment: Leitner (2000:
7) has pointed out that 75 % of all employed women work in 8 from 27 occupational
categories, the same share of male workers do their work in 12 occupations.
-
Male-dominated occupations are more strongly segregated than female-dominated
occupations (Leitner 2000): 40 % of male employees work in strongly segregated
male-dominated occupations with a share of women below 10 %. Only 9 % of
employed women work in strongly segregated female-dominated occupations
(share of women more than 80 %). Women in female-dominated occupations are
more used to having male colleagues, while men in male-dominated jobs have
nearly no chance of meeting female colleagues (Kreimer 1999, Leitner 2000).
These trends can be found in different data sources and hold for the last 20 years. 2
That does not mean that the segregated structure of occupations is the same as it was
at the beginning of the eighties. Especially highly qualified women are able to gain
from the general growth of professional employment, that has contributed to a
‘desegregation’ of the labour market. But, at the same time, other areas have become
more segregated as women have entered occupations that were already femaledominated. One important factor behind this tendency is part-time work, because the
part-time sector is characterised by high levels of segregation (the share of women in
part-time employment is more than 80 %), and of concentration (part-time jobs are
offered within few occupations, especially in the trade sector and in social services)
(Tálos 1999).
The gender wage gap and differences in career possibilities for women and men with a
5
similar qualification level are indicators for vertical segregation. Here empirical studies
for Austria show even fewer changes towards a reduction of segregation. The male
income advantage in particular seems to be a constant factor that persists, despite the
continuous trend of the majority of women reaching higher qualification levels
(Frauenbericht 1995, Gregoritsch et al. 2000).3
The various processes of labour market flexibilization are systematically connected
with the increasing number of atypically employed persons. Up to now the share of
women in atypical forms of employment is very high (about 75 % in Austria). Analyses
of these flexible employees show that their incomes are relatively low and the risks
connected with these forms of employment are higher than those of standard
employment. Therefore vertical segregation is reinforced by the trend of increasing
atypical employment (Tálos 1999, Mühlberger 2000).
Occupational segregation – what is the problem?
The horizontal segregation of the labour market need not have negative consequences
for female careers: It can follow from individual preferences, or female-dominated
occupations can be niches for women where they don’t have to compete with men.
The concentration of women’s employment in relatively few sectors has provided
women some protection against job loss. Furthermore, high segregation and high
female employment may be positively related in countries where part of household
work is done now by female dominated private industry and services or public services.
Therefore the problem is not horizontal segregation alone, but the coexistence with
vertical segregation. It varies between countries, but to some extent horizontal
segregation is always followed by a hierarchical differentiation: Female dominated jobs
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are associated with a relatively high level of part-time work, low pay, few career
opportunities and limited access to further training (Grimshaw and Rubery 1997: 6).
One of the reasons for these negative consequences of horizontal segregation is the
impossibility of making comparisons within segregated structures: The concentration of
female employees in female-dominated occupations and branches makes it easy to
define and evaluate work as ‘women-specific’, which is always connected with
devaluation. Furthermore, in female-dominated areas it is more difficult to see and to
prove discrimination, and there are fewer possibilities to switch to other jobs because
of narrow specialisation (Finder and Blaschke 1999, Heintz et al. 1997).
One of the main trends in the economy, and also in labour markets, is the increasing
pressure of competition that follows from flexibilization and globalisation. Competition
may have positive consequences for women, because they have more chances to
present their qualifications to the ‘market’, to compete with men for the ‘good’ jobs in
the labour market. But segregated structures within labour markets hinder competition
through a large number of structural and institutional barriers between male and
female labour market areas. Competition takes place within such areas, but hardly
between them.
A third problem lies in the persistency of labour market segregation despite all changes
in participation rates, in qualification levels or in work orientation. There are processes
of desegregation in some areas, but at the same time the segregated structure is
reinforced in other areas, and new forms of segregation come into existence, for
example, through the increase in atypical employment. Labour market segregation
changes its appearance, but not its level.
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Within labour market theories (neoclassical as well as theories of labour market
segmentation) many explanations for sex segregation can be found. But most of them
cannot provide sufficient answers to the questions on the causes and the stability of
segregation, because they reduce the analysis to market processes and neglect the
impact of the division of labour. Additionally, despite few exceptions (like Bettio 1988,
Picchio 1981) they don’t look at the historical roots of sex segregation.
The gender division of labour as well as the division between market work and
reproductive work4 have had a strong influence on the existing labour market
discrimination of women. The exclusion of that part of work that is done primarily by
women from economic analysis has fundamentally contributed to make women’s work
invisible. It is true that Gary Becker has included reproductive work in his economic
theories. But what has been ignored in labour economics and in discrimination theory
for a very long time is the fact that the gender division of labour is not only a simple
specialisation on different, but adequately valued activities, but an extremely
hierarchical assignment of women and men to different types of work. The real
problem is the valuation of the two work areas: market work is paid work; domestic
work is mostly unpaid work. Sex differentiation fosters the tendency to devalue female
activities (Reskin and Padavic 1994). This gender division of labour of paid and unpaid
work has clear consequences on the gender division of labour within the market –
which means on labour market segregation.
On the roots of sex segregation: The ‘doctrine of separated spheres’
A gender division of labour has always been a fact in human development. But in the
form of the division of family life and working life it is a historically relatively new fact,
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which is connected with the development of the capitalist market economy (Kreckel
1993) and follows from the impossibility of organising human reproduction as a
profitable production process.5 Therefore reproduction had to be organised unpaid and
outside the market.
The worlds of women and men became separated; a fundamental division of labour
between men and women was installed. The ‘doctrine of separate spheres’ (Reskin
and Padavic 1994) defined proper places for men (the world of commerce, the job) and
women (the home). Many social actors worked (implicit or explicit) together to make
the male-breadwinner-female-homemaker model the social norm, with the family wage
as an essential element (Fraser 1994, Creighton 1999). Within the family the man was
the breadwinner, which entitled him to obtain a corresponding income (a family wage)
and which was used to legitimise the wage gap between the sexes. Women’s unpaid
domestic work, although to some extent socially recognised as important work,
became more and more invisible, as only market work and the market itself dominated
economic theory and practice. Additionally, women were excluded from the political
area as well as from higher education until the 20th century.
However, the breadwinner system was never in effect for all women. Apart from the
facts that more and more families needed a second income and that there was an
(increasing) demand for female workers,6 not all women wanted to follow the norms of
the breadwinner model. The result was that more and more men and women did the
same waged work side by side. The astonishment about the fact that women were
able to do nearly all men’s jobs during the First World War was widespread (Münz and
Neyer 1986). The more women were able to prove their abilities in formerly male-
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dominated jobs, the more it was necessary to legitimise the differences in the valuation
of male and female work. Although scientifically proven biological and ideologicalpolitical justifications7 for the devaluation of female work were still quite popular, it was
no longer possible to treat men and women who did the same work and had similar
private conditions (families) differently. The demand for equal treatment and equal
opportunities was increasing and the forms of resistance that male workers had
traditionally been using against the entry of female workers were eventually broken by
the successful struggles of women against these forms of ‘patriarchal closure’ (Walby
1997: 77). The solution to this dilemma was patterned after the former exclusion
strategy: prevent women from working side by side with men and veil the fact of equal
work. In other words: the solution was the installation of a sex-segregated labour
market.
The segregated integration of women allows the unequal treatment of equal workers
and avoids direct competition between men and women. The aspect mentioned last
was important for the male work force, which supported segregation mechanisms for
several reasons (Rubery 1978). Labour market segregation was a successful strategy
to prevent women from entering men’s jobs or from having similar career possibilities
to men. With labour market segregation it was possible to maintain a gender hierarchy
throughout society.
The stabilisation of labour market segregation works via many different mechanisms.
Strategies of exclusion had the aim of limiting the entry of women into the high
qualified service sector, as can be seen for instance in the history of medicine
(Wetterer 1993). Marriage bars excluded married women from the whole labour market
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(for USA see Goldin 1990) or from important parts of it (exclusion of married women
from jobs in the civil services in Austria, see Münz and Neyer 1986). Health and safety
regulations for women always had some excluding effects besides their protective
function (Münz and Neyer 1986). Especially in the debate on the inconsistencies of
health and safety regulations for women, the connection with the breadwinner model is
visible: As long as women were exclusively responsible for the care of small children,
special regulations to protect pregnant women and mothers were necessary. But at the
same time these regulations led to exclusion from certain labour market areas. The
expansion of the validity of regulations to men (for instance parental leave for fathers)
doesn’t solve the problem as long as the sexual division of labour remains unchanged
(Fagan and Rubery 1996).
With the development of equal opportunity norms and the related policies it became
more and more difficult to use strategies of exclusion. Instead, demarcation strategy
came into existence (Witz 1992, Kreckel 1993, Wetterer 1993), for instance internal
labour markets and discrimination processes within firms, the definition and
legitimisation of so-called female jobs, or different systems of job-valuation.8 A specific
kind of demarcation strategies is connected with the definition of so-called ‘standard
employment’, a complex system of norms and rules, of characteristics a ‘normal’ or
‘standard’ worker should fulfil. Above all, continuity in labour market participation and
comprehensive availability for the work process are required. It is evident that men can
fulfil these requirements more easily than women, and that this definition of ‘standard
employment’ fits into the breadwinner model.
In general, the welfare state has the possibility to weaken or to strengthen the division
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of labour according to the breadwinner model through social policy, family policy, tax
policy, and by influencing the wage setting process. Trade unions, political parties and
different lobbies also play an important role in shaping the welfare state. Creighton
(1999) describes the different ways welfare states have supported the realisation of
family wages as an essential part of the breadwinner model. In welfare states like
Austria, where the welfare system is strongly connected to the labour market, this
division of labour has far-reaching consequences for social security, as only ‘standard
workers’ have full access to the system (Tálos and Wörister 1994, Frauenbericht 1995,
Mairhuber 2000).
During the 90s some efforts were made to reduce the disincentives for female labour
market participation that existed in the social security system, in family policy or in the
transfer orientation of the system (Mairhuber 2000). Since February 2000 Austria has a
conservative right wing government that is not willing to prolong these efforts, but to
support again the breadwinner orientation in the welfare system.9
Despite all the existing differences between welfare states in the development of
female employment opportunities (see for instance Gornick et al. 1997, Crompton
1999, Pfau-Effinger 1999) the sex segregated labour market seems to be an universal
and persistent phenomenon. Once a segregated structure has been introduced many
processes work together to stabilise it (for such processes see Ott 1992, Reskin 1994).
The constant behind all these developments and processes has been the gender
division of labour – therefore it should be the starting point for any policy aimed to
reduce labour market segregation.
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Perspectives on the Reduction of Labour Market Segregation
As we have seen above, labour market segregation is a very persistent phenomenon
that changes its appearance but not its level. Because of the historical embeddedness
of the gender division of labour and of the complexity of social change and of gender
relations (e.g. many workers prefer to work only with their own sex, Cockburn 1991),
changing the gender structure of the labour market is expected be a slow and
prolonged process. But the costs of maintaining the present sex-segregated structure
are high for society, for labour markets and especially for women. Therefore, policies
reducing segregation have to be put on the agenda.
As Cockburn (1991) stated for equal opportunities policy, reducing segregation
practically involves a ‘short’ and a ‘long’ agenda. The short agenda is a minimum
position supported by most of the relevant actors (the reduction of segregation is part
of the employment strategy of the EU and of the Austrian national action plan for
employment). More substantial kinds of change are on the long agenda supported by
equality activists, but combated or at least still ignored by the majority of men
(Cockburn 1991: 216). However, despite the power of the gendering processes and
the male resistance against gender equality, the barriers and structures are not
impermeable. Men and women have the capacity to change segregated structures.
Reduction of Segregation – examples for the ‘short’ agenda
In mainstream labour economic theories segregated structures should disappear as a
consequence of market competition. Therefore one could argue that increasing
competition in the labour market – a trend that takes place anyway – would contribute
to the reduction of segregation. If we look at flexibilization processes as one of the
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most important ways competition works in the labour market, this expectation holds –
but it is only one side of the coin. Flexibilization indeed leads to a weakening and, in
some cases, to an elimination of restrictions and barriers for women (e. g. the
prohibition to work at night in Austria). Another positive consequence of flexibilization
lies in the fact that it also concerns male career paths (e. g. the ‘erosion of standard
employment’, see for instance Winker 1998).
But on the other side flexibilization is the leading factor responsible for the increasing
importance of availability in the labour market (availability in space and time, mobility,
see Winker 1998, Yeandle 1999). While the problem of reconciliation of work and
family no longer prevents women from participating in waged work, it shapes and
restricts the form of participation (Smith and Gottfried 1998). Women with family
obligations are not able to fulfil the ideal of a fully available employee. Women without
family obligations have increasing chances to catch up with men in their job, to get
equal treatment, income and career possibilities. Equal opportunities policies as well
as the demand for highly qualified employees in many sectors support this catch up
process.
This slow but steady alignment of male and female working careers in some labour
market segments leads to changes in the structure of segregation: For some women it
is possible to overcome gender barriers, for others ‘segregated integration’ is
maintained. Labour market segregation shifts from segmentation between men and
women to segmentation within the female labour market. The most important criterion
for this segmentation is availability for the labour market – and the level of availability
depends in any case on the division of labour in the family. Women who are not fully
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available, but who want to participate in the labour market, are predestined for the
growing number of flexible and atypical employment relations. These types of
employment don’t provide sufficient income and social security, but as long as there
are - at least in principle - male breadwinners, there is no necessity to change these
conditions. The modernised breadwinner model provides an ideal background for the
growing sector of atypical employment – and with that for a new type of segregation
(Meulders et al. 1997, Yeandle 1999, Lutz 2000). Increasing competition contributes to
changes in the appearance of segregation, but not yet to its reduction. Additionally, it
reinforces processes of differentiation between women (Friese 1995, Walby 1997),
which gives rise to new questions for gender research, because ‘private and public
spheres can no longer be analysed adequately as separate, gendered spaces but
merit consideration as a continuum and with regard for the ethnic and class-specific
aspects.’ (Lutz 2000: 7).
Another strategy to reduce vertical segregation is based on improving women’s pay
through equal value policies. If women would be properly rewarded for the work they
do, horizontal segregation need not have negative consequences. Within segregated
structures, men and women do not do the same work, but very often they do work of
equal value. A consequent equal-pay-for-equal-value-policy would allow segregation to
be crossed by reducing wage discrimination (for Austria see Ranftl et al. 20002).
Besides the fact that it is still a problem to determine the ‘equal value’, such a strategy
cannot solve all the issues linked to segregation (e.g. segregation through atypical
forms of employment). “The demand for ‘equal value’ is in contradiction with the
functioning of labour markets, in which the weak bargaining power of women with
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domestic ties is an important advantage to employers.” (Cockburn 1991: 217). And any
‘equal value’ strategy faces limitations when the narrow link between labour market
segregation and the gender division of labour in all areas of life is taken into account.
Equal pay for equal value is a labour market strategy that may contribute to reach
more gender equality in some branches or occupations, but as we have seen above,
the sex segregated labour market is a rather far-reaching phenomenon.
Reduction of segregation – the ‘long’ agenda
A comprehensive strategy to reduce labour market segregation should start with the
gender division of labour and has to include an elimination of hierarchies and
asymmetries. Starting points for such a de-hierarchisation can be the hierarchical
gender relation according to the division of labour, as well as the hierarchical relation
between market work and reproductive work:

The gender division of labour could be changed to reach a more or less equal
distribution of market work and family work for men and women.

The functional hierarchy between market work and family work itself could be
changed to reach a more or less equal valuation of the two work areas.
Both dimensions together produce a matrix of possible objectives instead of only one
strategy to reduce gender segregation (see picture 1).
Here picture 1
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Reduction of the functional hierarchy
The aim of the vertical dimension is the equality of market work and reproductive work,
in other words the de-hierarchisation of the ‘initial segregation’.10 Particularly the
relation between paid and unpaid work need to be changed.
The market area and the private area are dependent on each other in the sense that
the time needed to fulfil one type of work restricts the possibilities to work in the other
area. This ‘intra-personal incompatibility’ (Bohnenkamp 1992) is a latent characteristic
in modern economies, but the extent of this incompatibility may differ between nations
according to the respective welfare state and labour market conditions. One reason for
these differences lies in the fact that there are different social norms in which way and
to what extent reproductive work may be substituted by market work (outsourcing of
domestic work). In general we can expect that the higher the level of prosperity of a
nation, the more domestic work will be replaced, or at least supplemented, by market
work.11 Financial requirements are often limitations for outsourcing processes,
especially if the welfare state is involved. Besides economic conditions, ideological and
cultural norms are important, for instance to what extent childcare outside the family is
socially accepted. These norms determine the socially desirable level of replacement.
Against the background of these various social basic conditions it is necessary to
develop differentiated strategies for the aim ‘reduction of functional hierarchy’:
In the context of a primarily market-oriented model the predominant strategy would be
the substitution of domestic work through waged market work. The functional
separation of the two areas would be overcome through the outsourcing of family work
and through professionalization. To support such a model we can think of tax17
deductible childcare costs or of tying transfers to a use for services supplied on the
market.
A rather similar strategy could be pursued in a state-oriented model: The welfare state
itself provides social services and care facilities. Both strategies are based on an
outsourcing of family work. Former unpaid work would become waged work, either with
a private or a public employer (like in the Scandinavian welfare state model, see Leira
1993). Another state model could also be that domestic work is left within the private
area, but becomes upgraded through a direct payment. A salary for domestic work or
different concepts of payment for care can be used.
A communitarist model would be based on the activation of collective strategies to
overcome the isolation of the private family. New models of living together, not only in
the private area, but also in the market, could be designed. Support and subsidies for
collective organisations like alternative child care institutions (‘Kinderläden’); collective
kitchens or neighbourhood initiatives could be part of such a strategy.
All models have their limitations: The models based on outsourcing have the problem
that outsourcing itself is limited, not all family work (especially care work) can be
transferred to waged market work. This is also true for the state model of outsourcing;
additionally there are financial restrictions. The latter is also the most important
limitation for the state model of payments for domestic work. If there is only a rather
small payment for family work, the functional hierarchy would not be reduced, but
strengthened instead. The criticism of feminist researchers of the concept of basic
income is based on similar arguments (Meyer 1997, Robeyns 1998). Finally there are
clear limitations with regard to the extent of the replacement of individual action
18
through collective action.
Therefore it seems to be necessary to create a mixed model, which has its emphasis
on market or state processes, or on individual or collective mechanisms, depending on
the national and cultural norms. Such a model would take into account the current
(partly large) differences between welfare states.12
Reduction of the gender hierarchy – new gender division of labour
The striving for a new gender division of labour interferes radically with the course of
men’s lives. Women have already made many adjustments through their participation
in waged work in addition to their obligations in the family. Now it is time to change
men’s ‘normal’ careers.13 Such a new division of labour may arise without changes in
the functional hierarchy. That means, waged work and family work would remain
separate areas following their specific mechanism. If it is self-evident for women and
men to take over half of reproductive work, the existing gender hierarchy loses its
significance. The private area would furthermore have effects on the labour market,
but not along the gender line. Instead of a gender-differentiation there would be a
differentiation of available and because of family work temporarily not (fully) available
individuals. Men and women would be equal in carrying the ‘double burden’ of market
work and family work. The ‘initial segregation’ would not be cancelled, but the male
breadwinner model would come to an end.
According to previous experiences with the male resistance to any significant change
of the gender division of labour, we cannot expect to come closer to an equal division
of labour without a reduction of the functional hierarchy. The adjustments made by
women have practically no effect on the behaviour of men, but they have affected the
19
female labour market in the form of new segregation and segmentation processes.
From an economic viewpoint it is understandable that men are not willing to do without
their privileges and to take on the ‘double burden’. Promising strategies should take
this into account – for as long as men cannot be forced to take over their part of
reproductive work.
Various models can be developed:
A state model would use distribution policy and social policy to change the division of
labour. Strategies could be compulsory parental leave periods for men (of the same
duration as for women), a rigorously organised individual-based tax system, a binding
of transfers and benefits to the division of labour, or binding subsidies to the fulfilment
of quotas and so on.
A market model would be based on individual strategies. Policy would be reduced to
measures to guarantee equal opportunities in the educational system, as well as in the
labour market. A strategy for the latter could be to set measures to increase individual
mobility.
Under the condition of a still existing functional hierarchy, the labour market itself is the
main field for strategies to change the gender division of labour. One strategy could be
to adapt female professional careers to those of men or, the other way round, to
eliminate male characteristics of jobs and careers. In the first case instruments would
be affirmative action, in the second case it would be necessary to change the norms
behind so-called ‘regular’ employment: New working time models, an adequate
valuation of work, new forms of work organisation and so on. Flexible working time
models compatible with social life or new models of career planning would be
20
necessary to reorganise waged work. Family work would have to be organised on a
collective level to a much greater extent than it is now (for instance kindergartens in
firms).
In all cases the whole infrastructure which represents the connection between the
market and the reproduction area plays an important role, and is therefore a starting
point for changes: Childcare facilities, opening hours or transport are material factors;
social policy regulations and family policy measures as well as social and cultural
norms and traditions are non-material factors that have to be part of the changes.
Reduction of both hierarchies
The reduction of both hierarchies (the diagonal route in the matrix) represents the most
comprehensive aim. Because of the interdependencies between the horizontal and the
vertical dimension it is necessary to look at the possible consequences each strategy
has on the other one.
A reduction of the functional hierarchy would change the distribution of power, and with
that the structure of dependencies. This would surely have effects on the relational
position of men and women. But whether results would include changes in the
personal division of labour cannot be guaranteed. In countries where the vertical
dimension has been changed through the modernisation of the breadwinner system,
there is no recognisable new division of labour between men and women. But there
are, however, tendencies towards new distribution of reproductive work between
different groups of women as a consequence of flexibilization processes in the labour
market (see above).
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Also, in Scandinavian countries where the reduction of the functional hierarchy has
made the most progress, the responsibilities for reproductive work have not really
changed. The Scandinavian welfare state has promoted the ‘modernisation of
mothering’ through the provision of working places for mothers in the service sector.
Therefore the female participation rate is very high, but at the same time horizontal
segregation is high (Melkas and Anker 1998). In other words: these countries also
have a position on the left side of the matrix referring to the horizontal dimension.
Whether changes in the gender division of labour would have effects on the vertical
hierarchy cannot be clearly forecast. There are some indications of possible effects, for
instance the fact that whenever the proportion of men in a job increased the job was
upgraded. Therefore it could be expected that a higher participation of men in the
reproductive area would lead to an upgrading of that area too. The case studies
presented by Williams (1993), however, indicate that this crossing over of men in
female jobs does not necessarily undermine the system of occupational segregation.
With labour market related strategies it depends on the direction: Measures to adapt
female careers to those of men have caused a segmentation of the female labour
market, instead of a reduction of the functional hierarchy.14 Measures following the
other direction, that is the adaptation of male careers to those of women, would surely
lead to an alignment of the reproductive area and the market.15
Scenarios for the reduction of labour market segregation
Based on the previous considerations the strategies of the matrix of possibilities (see
picture 1) should now be specified. Picture 2 therefore shows some scenarios. The
presented scenarios have partly been developed by researchers from the Netherlands
22
(see Bruyn-Hundt 1996, Brouwer and Wierda 1998, Advisory Council 1996). The main
aim of their work was the integration of care work into the official economy, the aim in
this paper is something more general. Picture 2 should not be interpreted as a
complete list of all possible scenarios; there may be more of them. But a lot of current
debates related to changes in the labour market, as well as in the social security
system and the welfare state as a whole, can be integrated in the presented
scenarios.16 And these scenarios are increasingly part of research on welfare states
(Fraser 1994, Esping-Andersen 1996, Duncan 1998).
Here Picture 2
In the perpetuation-scenario everything continues in the old, familiar way according to
modernised variants of the breadwinner system. Possible changes concentrate on the
question of reconciling work and family for women, without questioning their
responsibility for domestic work. Current trends make slow progress: Men do some
more family work; some outsourcing of family work is supported to the extent
necessary for the reconciliation problem (for instance child care facilities oriented on
female part-time work).
The allocation-scenario is based on a new division of labour between the sexes
(therefore this scenario can also be called the ‘sharing-scenario’), which is the result of
a redistribution of paid and unpaid work on an individual level. Domestic work will not
be attributed to gender any more. For the individual labour market performance it is not
important which sex one has, but whether one has family obligations or not. Even if it
were possible to induce men to live according to a new division of labour (that means
23
to do their part of family work), such a scenario can have undesirable effects. Without
a significant social and public responsibility for family work (a reduction of the
functional hierarchy) new dependencies and discriminatory effects may occur, as only
two-earner-families with a relatively high income capacity can afford to purchase care
services and domestic services.
The outsourcing-scenario and the salary-for-domestic-work-scenario are different in
many aspects, but their common element is the assignment of domestic work to
women.17 Women continue to do most of the family work, either as employees in the
outsource social service sector, or as housewives getting some kind of an income.
Under current conditions in the service sector and the budget constraints of the welfare
state, there are unlikely to be incentives for men to participate in family work, either
outside, or within the family. The gender division of labour would remain unchanged.
The combination-scenario represents the most ambitious scenario; it requires changes
in all dimensions of work for both sexes. A reduction of male market work; an
increased participation of women in market work (depending on the current level of
participation); a partial outsourcing of family work; and the increased participation of
men in the remaining domestic work in the family.18 The objective is something like a
‘half and half’ in both dimensions: Men and women each do half of the market work
and domestic work. 19
Cockburn (1991: 227-32) identifies three potentials of transformative change that
would fit in such a combination-scenario as it concerns the level of organizations: First,
developments in social policy are needed to take off the burden of care responsibilities
from women. Second, an economic policy is needed that would move towards a 30-
24
hour standard week for both sexes and consequently implement equal pay for equal
value in all branches and occupations. Third, she argues for a strengthening of the law,
e.g. positive discrimination of women, quotas, penalties for sex-discriminating firms or
subsidies for those with effective affirmative action policies and so on.
The advantages of a combination-scenario in comparison to an allocation-scenario
would lie in the fact that partial outsourcing has employment effects. This is a
precondition for increasing female labour market participation and guarantees the state
more revenue that could be used to support outsourcing processes through subsidies,
as well as to support the upgrading of the remaining family work. Partial outsourcing of
all kinds of family work can lead to a new valuation of these jobs through qualification
strategies, new forms of organisation and so on. In an allocation scenario that work
would remain informal and invisible. Furthermore, a scenario that leaves the struggle
for a new and equal division of labour up to individual responsibility places enormous
pressure on men: They have to adapt. But if they do so, they are in conflict with trends
on the labour market (like most women are now) - only fully available and flexible
individuals are sought. Especially given an increasingly flexible labour market, such a
scenario doesn’t seem to be realistic. In the combination scenario all participants have
to adapt, to change.
The last mentioned argument is also an advantage in contrast to the outsourcing- and
the salary-for-domestic-work-scenario, but with a somewhat different meaning: In
these scenarios women have to carry the whole burden of adaptation, men don't have
to change.
The analysis of the scenarios has a similar result to that of the more unspecified
25
strategies in the matrix of possibilities. In order to reduce segregation and hierarchy
significantly it seems to be best to follow the diagonal route, which means to combine
strategies of changing the gender division of labour and of reducing the functional
hierarchy. The combination scenario is therefore an optimal solution and should be the
objective on the long agenda.
Conclusions
The implementation and maintenance of sex segregation has influenced the whole
development of modern labour markets. The roots of this phenomenon lie in the
assignment of men and women to the market area and the reproduction area
according to the breadwinner model. Labour market segregation by sex can be seen
as a transformation and continuation of the asymmetrical gender relation in the family
to the labour market. Most of the mechanisms and processes that occur every day in
the labour market work together to preserve sex segregation. Up to now we haven’t
had any experiences with ‘discrimination-free’ labour markets. It seems to be very
difficult to break through the vicious circle of the labour market participation of women.
However, labour markets themselves as well as processes on them are exposed to
continuous changes. Therefore we can expect that changes will affect the vicious circle
and will result in a reduction of labour market segregation. There are already changes
that can be interpreted as movements along the dimensions of the matrix of
possibilities. But there is still a long way to go to reach the objectives of a genderneutral division of labour, or of an equal valuation of market work and family work.
Some political movements include concepts for a reduction of the functional hierarchy,
but the economic tendencies show another direction (increasing importance of
26
markets, of money, decreasing importance of social factors). Due to budget constraints
the welfare state has hardly any room for supporting strategies that aim to narrow the
gap between the market area and the reproduction area.
Till now changes of the gender division of labour have not caused a redistribution of
work between men and women, but between different groups of women. The
participation of men in family work is still rather low, not only because of their own
resistance (why should they give up all the advantages they have in the existing
division of labour?). Another reason lies in the increasing demands of market work.
The growing importance of being available at any time and at any place makes it very
difficult for individuals to live according to new and more gender-neutral roles. Due to
the decreasing number of so-called ‘regular’ employment relationships the competition
in the labour market will become tougher. The opportunities for the implementation of
‘family-friendly’ workplaces are rather bad.
The only group that would be able to push ahead a reduction of segregation are
women themselves. With an increasing number of women refusing to live according to
the breadwinner model or its modernised variants it would be necessary to reorganise
the division of labour. But due to the fact that most women already bear a ‘double
burden’, it doesn’t seem to be very realistic to expect great changes in the near future.
However, it would be too pessimistic to see women alone struggling for a new gender
division of labour. A relatively new actor in this field is the EU: The reduction of sex
segregation is part of the employment policy of the EU. This guarantees that sex
segregation is a topic in national employment policies, that new instruments and
measures to reduce sex segregation are developed and so on. But it is clear that a lot
27
of work has to be done to implement a new model of division of labour following the
breadwinner system and with that to reduce labour market segregation.
Notes
1
The high level of segregation is not only a problem within occupations, but also within
branches or industries, or in firms (Kreimer 1999, Leitner 2000), but it is more difficult to
analyse these forms of segregation because of heterogeneity (industries, branches) or
because of the lack of data (firms). It has to be said that the measurement of segregation is
in any case difficult, because the results depend to a large extent on the unit where
segregation is measured (occupations, branches, firms..), from the aggregation level (10
main occupational groups or about 160 detailed occupations) and from the methods (single
number indicators like the index of dissimilarity or the sex-ratio index, or more disaggregated
analyses). Because of the complexity of segregation it is necessary to use a comprehensive
mix of methods and indicators for measurement.
2
Leitner (2000) uses survey data from the Austrian Mikrozensus for 1994 and 1998, based on
the ISCO-88 classification of occupations. Kreimer (1999) has used census data from 1981
and 1991, based on a national classification of occupations.
3 Female incomes are on average 28 % lower than male incomes (Gregoritsch et al. 2000: 14).
4
The use of ‘social reproduction’ to describe the daily and intergenerational renewal of human
resources, physically and mentally capable to participate in production, has been
controversial (see for instance Humphries and Rubery 1984). But this is also the case with
other terms, like family work. Social reproduction is not limited to the family or the household,
just as family work has to do with practices outside the family, and so on. For the very
general purpose of this paper the terms ‘family work’, ‘domestic work’ and ‘reproductive work’
are used interchangeably, with the meaning mentioned at the beginning of this remark.
5
The roots of this division can be located at the end of the feudalistic period. Kenrick (1981)
shows this using the example of England: The enclosure movement destroyed the
possibilities of small farms to survive and with that the basis for an independent life outside
the labor market. But, in contrast to men, women had less chances of getting jobs in the
growing urban centers or getting/receiving education and training. The development of the
textile industry reduced the demand for home-based work of women. That means that
women lost their work in agriculture and in the home-based industry already in the phase of
the dissolving of the feudal system, and they only had few opportunities to get jobs in the new
28
and growing industrial sector.
6
This is especially true for the two World Wars; there was an enormous demand for female
participation in the industrial sectors. In Austria, in 1910 nearly 39% of the whole labour force
and nearly one quarter of the employed in the industry were women (Münz and Neyer 1986).
Between 1890 and 1910 the number of non self-employed women greatly increased. At the
beginning of the 20th century Austria had one of the highest female participation rates. In
1900 47% of all employed women were married.
7
Dorothea Schmidt (1993) describes justifications of the ‘fine hand’ of female workers, Jutta
Schwarzkopf (1993) for the social construction of qualifications. Karin Hausen (1993) shows
historical studies of ‘natural’ male and female work in the textile industry or in laundries.
Ideological-political justifications came from different institutions: for instance from the
Catholic Church (Hausen 1993), from political parties (Münz and Neyer 1986), from
economists (Michèle Pujol 1992).
8
In addition to the exclusion and demarcation strategy, Witz (1992: 44ff.) identified two more
gendered strategies – inclusion and dual closure – to describe the countervailing responses
of groups who are subject to either exclusion or demarcation in professional projects.
9
The most evident indication of the ‘re-discovering’ of the breadwinner model is the strong
emphasis the new government lays on family policy, especially on monetary transfers to
families for children under three years. Family policy has replaced any kind of women’s
policy, a trend that started with the abolition of the Ministry for Women’s Affairs that was one
of the first measures the new government has carried out.
10
To complete the picture it must be said that those entries in the matrix connected with a high
level of hierarchy (the breadwinner model and also the modernised variants) can also be
seen as objectives – as is the case in various interest groups, political parties and so on.
These strategies are very popular whenever unemployment is high. In the modernised
breadwinner model it is not convenient anymore to ‘send women back home’, but to facilitate
the reconciliation of work and family for women. The gender division of labor remains
unchanged. But changes in preferences of women (and, increasingly, also of men) as well as
economic restructuring, family breakdown and marital instability challenge this model more
and more.
11
The outsourcing of domestic work is not only related to higher levels of prosperity but also to
income disparities both nationally and internationally. A large part of long-term care in Austria
is done by people from abroad (mainly Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary). These mostly
female foreigners are really ‘cheap’ care persons on the black market who guarantee the
well-functioning of the long term care at least in Eastern Austria. They make possible that
29
care is done, but without any social integration.
12
Bilateral comparisons (see for instance von Wahl 1995 on a comparison of the USA and
Germany) as well as welfare state typologies (Lewis and Ostner 1994, Duncan 1998) show
that there are large differences between welfare states concerning economic and cultural
conditions. Therefore a uniform strategy to reduce gender asymmetries and hierarchies
would not be successful.
13
This is correct at least for the majority of men and the majority of social classes (see for
instance the share of men on parental leave in Austria: bare 2 % of all fathers take a part of
the leave, although six months are exclusively reserved for them since welfare state reforms
in 1996.)
14
In Austria it is now a common strategy to award a prize to ‘women-friendly’ firms. Prizes are
mostly given to those firms that create typical female career paths with part-time work, familyoriented flexibility and career interruptions.
15
Such effects may be the by-product of new flexible work organization models. For instance,
the new working time models used by BMW also include possibilities for partner-sharing parttime or for sabbaticals (private leave for a period of 1 to 6 months) and some others too.
16
For instance the following debates in Austria: The debate on untying the connection of
parental leave regulation from labor market participation, the discussion about ‘half and half’
of domestic work for men and women, the question of an individual pension right for all
women, debates on public subsidies for child care institutions and others.
17
This common characteristic justifies the presentation in the same field of the matrix. But this
presentation should not be interpreted as a negation of the meaningful differences between
the two scenarios (distribution effects, exclusion effects and so on).
18
Elements of such a scenario could be: A significant reduction of general working time (for
instance down to 32 hours per week); This reduced working time has to be the new standard
for social security, minimum income and so on (new standard of ‘regular employment’);
Elimination of all breadwinner elements in social policy; Integration of care work in the social
security system without a gender assignment (explicit and implicit); Public supply (or
subsidies) of qualitative social services.
19
The presented suggestions are part of a model to integrate care work in the regular economy
in the Netherlands (see Brouwer and Wierda 1998). The measures and instruments have to
be completed and put in concrete form. And it has to be said that many questions are still
open: What about single parents in this dual-breadwinner-oriented model? How can the
quality of outsourced family work be guaranteed? How can it be ensured that men reduce
their paid working time and take over their part of family work? Would the gender wage gap
30
disappear automatically or are further measures necessary?
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34
Picture 1:
Matrix of possibilities to change sex segregation
Reduction of functional hierarchy
Reduction of gender hierarchy – New division of labour between men and women
Breadwinner model
Modernized
Breadwinner Systems
Scandinavian model
or Marketsubstitution-model
Segmentation
in the female
labor market
depending on
the extent of
functional
hierarchy
Equivalence of
market work and
domestic work in
different models
Picture 2:
New division of
labor, ‘equal
burden’ for both
sexes
‘family-oriented
working life’ for both
sexes
Complete
elimination of
hierarchies
Scenarios on the reduction of segregation
Reduction of functional hierarchy
Reduction of gender hierarchy – New division of labour between men and women
‘Perpetuation-scenario’
‘Allocation-scenario’
Modernised variants of the
breadwinner system
Individual redistribution of
paid and unpaid work
‘Outsourcing-scenario’
(market or state version)
‘Salary-for-domesticwork-scenario’
‘Combination-scenario’
Social responsibility for
unpaid work without
changing the gender
division of labour
Social responsibility for unpaid
and paid work, redistribution of
work for both sexes
35