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Flexible Specialisation

Introduction to Topic Four:

Gender Divisions at Home and Work:

            The last twenty years in Britain has not only seen unemployment grow, but also part-time, casual, temporary work. There has also been an increase in women working. These two trends have gone together. Although very recently there has been an increase in young and older men working part-time, the majority of these workers are women. Where there are child care responsibilities, and where these responsibilities are seen as the primary, or sole, responsibility of the woman, then part time work "suits" women in this position. It also suits employers, as various social costs like pensions, and holiday pay etc. can be avoided.

            More important given the earlier argued need for flexibility, part time workers are more flexible than  full time. They can be sacked more quickly for a start. They are also without the protection of trade unions as they are usually not a member. So they may only be called to work on those days when the employer needs them. So the wage will be very variable, and sometimes no wage at all!

            The relationship between home and work, is a relationship that both men and women workers experience. For most writers it is the woman's experience of this relationship that is the more interesting. With honourable exceptions the man's relationship has not received much attention. The double shift of managing paid work, and unpaid domestic labour, including child care, has been seen as the most disadvantaged form of work, especially when it is part-time. Full time paid work for women also has problems, employing other part time women workers to help with child care being one issue!

            Most studies stress the differences between the man's experience of work and the woman's. Different rates of pay, promotion prospects, relationship with trade unions, and a lower commitment to the firm are common features of research reports. The similarities, such as being subject to the same time discipline, lateness penalties, holiday entitlements, pension plans, and being able to enjoy the conviviality of paid employment, are not so stressed.

            This may read as a very pessimistic set of researches, but the style in which women can relate to one another, and their bosses, does lend them some dignity. Being torn between home and work is clearly demonstrated. But if firms were more generous with paternity leave, then men workers might be more similar to women workers. 

            The service sector of the economy in Britain has become larger than the manufacturing sector. The service sector is also a larger employer of women than men. The previous topic, with it's focus on manufacturing, is thus less typical of female employment. The study of promotion issues in the service sector, particularly in  insurance is more typical.

            Previous studies of office work, or white collar and white blouse work, as it is sometimes called, have focused on how the office can become like a family atmosphere, with few men present. These men will also be out of the office much of the time seeing contacts, and other professionals. Effectively the office becomes a female only zone. In this atmosphere women are not given the same encouragement as men to apply for promotion, to take professional exams, and to be geographically mobile, or move to a better job in another area. Where women do take the professional exams, and this has increased due partly greater female participation in higher education, then they do get promoted. But this promotion is often into jobs where one can work from home, e.g. accountancy. Becoming corporate accountants, where much travelling is often required to see clients accounts, is less likely for women. Most women accountants practice taxation because this can be done from home. There is little or no travelling to the client's office; especially with small businesses. This shows a gender split amongst the profession after graduation. About one half of all graduates are women. Box One below shows the 'fit' between family responsibilities and working life for female graduates; in this example from Pharmacy where there is a similar gender split.

            Whilst equal treatment in terms of promotion is important, there are deeper issues here. The existence of conflicts between the genders at work is now well documented. So past  conflicts between typically male workers and overwhelmingly male owners and managers, are now being added to by new gender conflicts at work. These conflicts show themselves dramatically in terms of charges of sexual abuse, which go to court; and  less dramatically with charges of unfair treatment when applying for promotion. Underlying these events is the widespread belief that female workers are not as seriously committed to the work, even when they have the relevant qualifications and experience. The responsibility for child care may lead to leaving the firm. This again raises the issue of paternity leave. Where women have been promoted to a very senior level, the difficulties they face from their male colleagues are severe. There are an increasing number who are reaching the top; or breaking through the "glass ceiling". But after they arrive their welcome is such that not many stay long. Box Two illustrates this in detail.

            Apart from the small number of very senior women, who have successfully achieved a series of promotions, there are many more women seeking promotion at lower levels. Many do not succeed. A number of explanations have been given for this. One is male patriarchy. The culture of male workers excludes women, this is seen in Box Two above. Another is to blame the victim. The women themselves do not want promotion; or at least most women do not actively seek promotion. Box Three shows this clearly.

Yet another explanation for lack of promotion for women workers is that society itself has so structured certain jobs that women cannot do them. These types of job includes heavy lifting, as box three shows, other types of job are less easy to specify. There are assumptions about what the wider society would find acceptable, for example sending a woman employee to foreclose on a mortgage at night. This was seen as a situation of possible violence, and so a manager might be loath to send a woman. Much less plausibly managers seem to believe that women cannot do selling, as well as men. Box Four shows this well.

Where promotion of women workers does occur, at lower levels, researchers have discovered a number of problems. Firstly men who succeed at promotion often have a male mentor. A man who is in a more senior position can facilitate a smooth promotion process. Once promoted, it can be made clear which rules to enforce strictly with inferiors, and which one can be quite lax about. Until recently women workers have lacked a mentor as not enough women were in senior positions. Currently this has changed; and there are support groups for women. However, there is still a difference. Women tend to have achieved promotion by the book; that is they have what has been called the "Qualification Lever". There have all the necessary qualifications, including educational ones, necessary for promotion. So they expect their inferiors to work by the book as well. There is still a some lack of knowledge about which rules are strict, and which lax. this can produce a comparison of male and female bosses, which portrays the female manager in a poor light. Unlike the male manager, she will not bend some of the rules for her inferiors. This has a number of consequences. Workers may complain about their female manager to senior management. this may discourage senior managers from promoting other women workers, as they fear worker unrest; which is a distraction from the firm's\main business. Women workers themselves may also be dissuaded from applying for promotion, as it produces so much conflict; and they do not want to be seen in such a negative light. Box Five is an example of this.

            Other concerns specific to male workers are that fair treatment for  women may mean that long term their jobs will be less secure, and this at a time of increasing worry about job security anyway. Pushing these concerns to an extreme, it can be argued that traditional class conflict, between workers and managers, is being replaced by conflict between the genders. Further concern for good forms of employment for ethnic minorities have produced yet other forms of conflict. Is social class conflict now dead? Some recent writers do think so!  Alternatively, in so far as job stereotyping has reduced over the last 25 years, unskilled jobs which have traditionally gone to women are now going to young men. This is especially true in British Japanese companies in light manufacturing. Here skill, or rather the lack of it, seems to matter more than gender. Skill levels are related to education, which is also related to social class. It may be that social class is still relevant. 

            How skill is to be defined is important and contentious. In order to know how many people in society have high skills, or low skills, or no skills at all, one needs to know what a skill is. An easy and common answer, though still unsatisfactory, is to say that what education delivers is skill. This can mean only that one has attended some educational institutions for some time. Or it can relate to the number, and type of  certificates you have acquired. Or it can relate to the level of education reached, primary, secondary, further or higher. Or finally to any post school professional qualifications, and membership of professional bodies. Underlying all this there is a more fundamental debate as to whether skills are inherent, acquired at birth; of learnt in later life. Is one naturally skilled in playing a musical instrument; or can this skill only be taught? Despite all this unclarity there is a great concern at the level of governments, and employers and their Human Resource staff, about the skill level of their populations and employees. International measures of skill levels has increased concerns where one society appears to have a higher level than another. This can imply an economy operating at a lower level than another. Then there is pressure on the educational system. One consequence of all this measurement is the production of hierarchies of skill levels, within and across societies. This can appear as a new map of social class differences. It certainly reflects pay differentials. Differences in ownership and control at work is a more complex issue. Box Six below is one clear statement of changing views of the importance of education, and skill acquisition.

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Trade Unions