French and British Mothers at Work PDF
Preview French and British Mothers at Work
FRENCH AND BRITISH MOTHERS AT WORK Also by Shirley Dex British and American Women at Work (with Lois B. Shaw) Life and Work History Analyses (editor) The Sexual Division of Work Women's Attitudes towards Work Women's Occupational Mobility French and British Mothers at Work Shirley Dex Senior Lecturer in Economics University of Keele Patricia Walters Senior Lecturer in Sociology University of Salford David M. Alden Lecturer in Environmental and Ecological Economics University of Melbourne M ©Crown Copyright 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993 This book was produced with assistance from the Department of Employment. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department or any other Government Department. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in Great Britain 1993 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-349-13040-5 ISBN 978-1-349-13038-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-13038-2 Contents List of Tables and Figure viii Acknowledgements xii Preface xiii 1 Introduction 1 Comparative theory in general 3 Feminisation and the role of the state 8 The context and value of comparisons 11 Plan of the book 14 2 Data Sources and Making Comparisons 16 The two surveys 16 Sample sizes 17 Profiles of the samples 19 Categories of comparison 20 Conclusions 27 3 Working and Not-Working Mothers 30 Introduction 30 Literature review 31 Policy framework 34 The survey data 45 Personal characteristics 45 Family and life-cycle characteristics 49 Resources available 51 Models of participation 59 Conclusions 65 4 Continuity of Employment 68 Introduction 68 Literature review 68 Policies 71 Measures of continuity 75 Continuity and current status 76 Working and not-working periods 78 Working and not-working proportions 79 Comparisons between continuity measures 80 Personal characteristics and continuous working 82 v vi Contents Family and life-cycle characteristics 86 Resources available 87 Model of continuity in employment 88 Conclusions 91 5 Part-Time Work 94 Introduction 94 Literature review 95 Legislative and policy framework 105 Hours-of-work definitions 110 Characteristics of part-time jobs 111 Social and attitudinal characteristics 119 Resources available 125 Conclusions 128 6 Rewards from Employment 130 Introduction 130 Literature review 130 Legislative and policy framework 133 Occupational structure 136 Occupations and earnings 139 Earnings 144 Occupational mobility 149 Duration of childbirth break 153 Unemployment 154 Conclusions 155 7 Conclusions 157 The range of comparisons 157 Women's working patterns and the impact of social policy 158 France and Britain as policy environments for women's employment 161 Gender patriarchy and the state 164 General approaches to comparative analysis 165 Annex 1 Initial Comparisons between Data Sets using Reduced French Sample 169 Annex 2 Reclassification of Women's Occupations 172 Annex 3 Reclassification of Men's Socio-economic Categories 174 Annex 4 French Women's Work-History Data 176 Annex 5 French Income Tax Details 177 Contents vii Annex 6 Non Means-Tested Amounts of French Family Allowance in 1981 179 Annex 7 Additional Tables from Chapter 3 180 Annex 8 Details of Model of Continuity in Employment 182 Annex 9 Social Insurance in France 184 Annex 10 Definitions of Part-Time Work Adopted 186 Annex 11 Part-Time/Full-Time Divisions 188 Annex 12 Calculation of First Break for Childbirth for French Women 191 Annex 13 Calculation of Unemployment Figures 192 Annex 14 Additional Tables from Chapter 6 193 Annex 15 Profile of Excluded French Self-Employed 196 Bibliography 203 Index 211 List of Tables and Figure TABLES 1.1 Unemployment rates, 1983 13 2.1 Sample sizes used in analysis 18 3.1 Income tax as a percentage of gross earnings 35 3.2 Age of women by employment status 46 3.3 Age of women left full-time education, by employment status 47 3.4 Women's current and most recent occupations by employment status 48 3.5 Number of children by employment status 49 3.6 Age of youngest child by employment status 50 3.7 Employment status by age of youngest child 51 3.8 Home-ownership by employment status 52 3.9 Child-care provisions for French women by employment status 53 3.10 Types of child care used by working women to care for pre-school children 54 3.11 Typc_s of care used for school-aged children 56 3.12 Mean amounts spent on child care by those who pay 57 3.13 Proportion of working women who pay for child care during the week 57 3.14 Total weekly expenditure on child care 58 3.15 Women's participation functions- logit coefficients 61 3.16 Effects of varying age of youngest child and level of potential earnings on predicted participation rates 62 4.1 Duration of current working and not-working periods 77 4.2 Number of not-working periods lasting six months or more by employment status 78 4.3 Percentage of time since left school spent working, by employment status 79 4.4 Women's employment patterns- summary 81 4.5 Number of not-working periods lasting six viii List of Tables & Figure ix months or more by age 82 4.6 Women's employment pattern summary by age 84 4.7 Number of not-working periods lasting six months or more by occupation 85 4.8 Number of not-working periods lasting six months or more by number of children 87 4.9 Whether women pay for child care for under- 3s by number of not-working periods lasting six months or more 88 4.10 Logit regression results on women's continuity in employment 89 5.1 Actual hours worked at interview by self- definition (hours for working women) 110 5.2 Occupation by hours of work 112 5.3 Contractual status of current employment by hours of work 112 5.4 Promotion possibilities by hours of work 113 5.5 Number of days' paid annual leave by hours of work 114 5.6 Provision for mother to be absent from work to tend ill children by hours of work 115 5.7 Women's hourly earnings at interview 116 5.8 Travel-to-work time by hours of work 117 5.9 Duration of current job by hours of work 118 5.10 Formal training given by current employer 118 5.11 Women's age at interview by hours of work 119 5.12 Number of children by hours of work 120 5.13 Age of youngest child by hours of work 121 5.14 Age left school by hours of work 122 5.15 Occupation by hours of work 123 5.16A Percentage of time spent working since leaving full-time education by hours of work 124 5.16B Number of not-working periods lasting six months or more 124 5.17 Child care provision for French working women by hours of work 126 5.18 Average weekly state benefits received by full- and part-time women's households 127 6.1 Women's occupation by age 138
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