The British Journal of Sociology
Volume 49 No. 1 March l998
Pages 118-136
Abstract
Explainations of the persisting differences int he structure of men's and women's employment have long been debated in the social sciences. Sociological explanations have tended to stress the continuing significance of structural constraints on women's employment opportunities, which persist, despite the removal of formal barriers. Neo-classical economics, in contrast, have emphasized the singificance of individual choice, an argument which has been recently endorsed by Hakim who suggests that patterns of occupational segregation reflect the outcome of the choices made by different 'types' of women. In this paper, a preevious debate relating to the explanatory utility of men's 'orientations to work' is used to argue that employment structures are the outcome of both choice and constraint, and that this is also the case for woment. The argument is illustrated with evidence from cross-nationally comparative biographical interviews carried out in five countries
Keywords: Women; employment; occupational segregation; cross-national; work orientations
Rosemary Crompton and Fiona Harris
Department of Sociology
University of Leicester