The future of female-dominated occupations

245 Pages·1998·0.777 MB·English

by  OECD

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THE FUTURE
OF FEMALE-DOMINATED
OCCUPATIONS
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
AND DEVELOPMENT
Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960,
and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed:
– to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising
standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and
thus to contribute to the development of the world economy;
– to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member
countries in the process of economic development; and
– to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory
basis in accordance with international obligations.
The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
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subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964),
Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973),
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(7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996) and Korea (12th December 1996). The
Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD
(Article 13 of the OECD Convention).
Publie´ en franc¸ais sous le titre :
L’AVENIR DES PROFESSIONS A PRE´DOMINANCE FE´MININE
(cid:211) OECD 1998
Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use
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FOREWORD
In 1991 a High-level Group of Experts submitted its report, ‘‘Shaping struc-
tural change: the role of women’’,* to the Secretary-General of the OECD. Among
the priority policy issues it identified, occupational segregation and the need to
enhance the status of women’s occupations and the career prospects they offer
were the focus of special attention.
Gender segregation in employment is a permanent feature of labour markets
throughout the OECD area and is not diminishing with time. Gender inequalities
stem largely from this and from the fact that women’s jobs are concentrated in just
a few occupations: most of these ‘‘female-dominated occupations’’ are at the heart
of the information and service economy and are accordingly undergoing sweeping
change.
In 1995 the Working Party on the Role of Women in the Economy, reporting to
the OECD’s Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, decided to
address the issue and identify policies that could best promote job prospects in
female-dominated occupations. Several networks of national experts were set up
and consultants called in to co-ordinate and summarise the work. A conference on
‘‘The professionalisation of female-dominated occupations in the service sector’’
was held at the OECD on 11 and 12 December 1997, on the initiative of France’s
General Delegation for Employment and Vocational Training.
This publication is the outcome of joint efforts by many national experts,
whose contributions we here acknowledge. Each chapter is based on a back-
ground report drawn up by consultants: Damian Grimshaw and Jill Rubery on
occupational employment and pay; Hilary Steedman on secretaries; John
Townshend on primary school teachers; Jozef Pacolet on nurses; Susan
Christopherson on carers; and Jacqueline Laufer on professionalisation. Franc¸oise
Core´, Principal Administrator in the OECD’s Directorate for Education, Employ-
ment, Labour and Social Affairs, was in charge of the publication. She was assisted
by Leslie Limage, publications consultant. The report is published on the respon-
sibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD.
* in Women and Structural Change. New Perspectives (OECD, 1994). 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Introduction and overview....................... ..... .. 7
Female-dominated occupations ....................... ..... ..... 7
Specific characteristics of female-dominated occupations ............. 9
Strategies to enhance female occupations ....................... .. 11
Objectives and content of the study ....................... ..... . 13
Chapter 2. The concentration of women’s employment
and relative occupational pay................... ..... ... 15
Data and methodological issues ................... ..... ......... 16
The ‘‘top-ten’’ approach for measuring the impact of employment
concentration ................. .. ..... .......... ... ......... 22
Most common occupational groups ................... ..... ...... 29
The five poles of women’s employment and wage relativities ......... 31
Conclusions: a first assessment....................... ..... ...... 42
Chapter 3. Secretarial occupations: the impact of technological
and organisational change ................... ..... ..... 49
Focus on secretaries ................. .. ..... .......... ... ..... 49
The labour market for secretaries................. ..... .......... 52
The impact of technological and organisational change
on secretarial work................. .. ..... .......... ... ..... 61
Implications for education, upgrading and the acquisition of new skills 63
Secretaries’ career prospects ................... ..... .......... . 66
The need for action and priority areas................... ..... .... 69
The future of secretarial occupations ................... ..... ..... 79
Chapter 4. Primary school teaching: a story of unachieved equality
for women..................... ......... .... ......... 85
Contextual background ..................... ......... .... ...... 85
Employment opportunities for teachers ..................... ...... 88
Women teachers today ..................... ......... .... ...... 99
Teachers’ pay..................... .. ....... .... ........... ... 103 5
THE FUTURE OF FEMALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS
Conditions of work: a complex mosaic ....................... ..... 108
Qualifications required for teaching ....................... ..... .. 112
Career opportunities for primary teachers ....................... .. 117
Educational reform and quality of teaching in the future ............. 121
Conclusions ..................... .. ..... ......... ..... ....... 122
Appendix: Education systems – Selected types ...................... 125
Chapter 5. The nursing profession: issues of demand,
status and working conditions ....................... ... 129
Socio-economic perspectives: the macro level...................... 129
The nursing profession in OECD countries....................... .. 134
Characteristics and working conditions in the nursing profession ....... 139
Nurses’ salaries ....................... ..... ......... ..... .... 142
Careers and career opportunities ....................... ..... .... 145
Policies to improve the attractiveness of the nursing profession
and career opportunities for women....................... ..... 147
Potential shortages of nursing professionals and responsive strategies .. 151
The future of nursing professions ....................... ..... .... 155
Conclusions ..................... .. ..... ......... ..... ....... 156
Chapter 6. Carers: the impact of new modes of finance and provision ... 161
Emerging trends in the child care sector ....................... ... 162
Emerging trends in the elderly care sector ....................... . 171
Restructuring work in the caring sectors ....................... .... 183
Caring professions and conditions for caring: the challenges .......... 186
Chapter 7. The professionalisation of female-dominated occupations
in the service sector....................... ..... ....... 193
Introduction ..................... .. ..... ......... ..... ....... 193
Main findings ....................... ..... ......... ..... ...... 194
Challenges and components of professionalisation .................. 199
Questions to guide policy approaches ....................... ..... 202
Pathways to professionalisation: a number of complementary
approaches....................... ..... ......... ..... ...... 203
The actors of professionalisation....................... ..... ..... 207
Conclusions ..................... .. ..... ......... ..... ....... 210
6 Statistical appendix....................... ..... ......... ..... .... 213
1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
FEMALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS
Gender segregation in occupational employment
Gender segregation across occupations is nearly universal and inherently
structural in contemporary socio-economic systems (Anker, 1998). In OECD coun-
tries, most workers, and particularly men, hold jobs in an occupation where their
own sex is in the majority. More than half of the classified occupations are
segregated by sex at rates over 80 per cent. More than one-half of all employees
belong to an occupation where most of the employees are of the opposite sex.
The scale and rigidity of this phenomenon are such that it is commonplace to
refer to ‘‘male occupations’’ and ‘‘female occupations’’ or to those which are
‘‘traditionally male’’ or ‘‘traditionally female’’. These expressions clearly illustrate
that segregation derived from dominant social and cultural models is directly
transferred through gender-based stereotypes to the world of work. This may
however have a positive side, since gender-defined occupations to some extent
create a ‘‘reserved’’ employment site for one sex or the other.
The concentration of women’s employment in a limited number
of occupations
National occupational classifications may include between three hundred
and five hundred categories at the most detailed level. Female-dominated occu-
pations are relatively few in number, especially when compared with those which
are male-dominated. For OECD countries, Anker (1998) observed more than five
times as many male-dominated occupations as compared to female-dominated
ones, although women represent some 40 per cent of the total work force.
It is well-known that women’s employment is concentrated in a limited range
of occupations and, that their numbers in these occupations is out of proportion
with those to be found in male-dominated occupations. This characteristic indi-
cates that female-dominated and male-dominated occupations are not defined 7
THE FUTURE OF FEMALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS
with the same degree of precision. Indeed, female-dominated occupations
remain largely undifferentiated.
Which occupations are female-dominated today?
Female-dominated occupations are usually characterised by a strong concen-
tration of total women’s employment and a large work force. At OECD-level, three
occupations appear to be outstanding examples of female-dominated occupa-
tions: secretaries, primary school teachers and nurses. These three occupations
fulfil the three criteria mentioned above in all countries. Other occupations such
as those in sales, hotels and catering employ large numbers of workers and show
a high degree of female participation (saleswomen, cashiers, waitresses). Finally,
several occupations are perceived as strongly resembling traditional female fam-
ily roles (in fact, as substitutes for these traditional roles) and the rates of female-
domination are nearly 100 per cent. Domestic workers as a traditional occupation
and home helpers as a newer form of employment are included in the categories
of female-dominated occupations.
The identification of specific occupations which can be characterised as
‘‘female-dominated’’ may serve as a warning to avoid amalgamation of objectively
different jobs. A simple listing of occupations demonstrates important criteria
which differentiate them, levels of qualification being among the most visible and
important. From primary school teachers to domestic workers, the range of qualifi-
cation levels is quite broad. Older traditional occupations are also to be found
alongside new ones. The identification of specific occupations draws out a newer
characteristic common to female-dominated occupations. In OECD countries
today, female-dominated occupations (according to the three criteria used in this
chapter) all belong to the service sector.
What special concerns prompt attention to female-dominated professions
when examining women’s employment?
Women’s employment is usually analysed from the perspective of gender
equality. The proponents of the concept of absolute gender equality see occupa-
tional segregation as direct evidence of inequality. Equality can only be achieved
when women and men participate in equal numbers in all jobs and at all levels.
Paradoxically, this line of thinking usually focuses on women’s access to jobs
traditionally held by men rather than on the parallel or inverse possibility of
men’s employment in jobs dominated by women. This paradox is brought to light
when equality is examined in further depth. In contemporary societies, occupa-
tion is closely associated with social and economic status of individuals. Gender-
based occupational segregation highlights differences which place feminine occu-
8 pations at a disadvantage in this context. This disadvantage has two dimensions.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Firstly, occupational segregation excludes women from occupations which are
associated with the greatest prestige, power and highest incomes. These occupa-
tions are generally ‘‘reserved’’ for men. More generally, female-dominated occu-
pations are undervalued either in terms of salary, career prospects or social
status. The salary differentials are the most serious. Occupational segregation
explains the major part of the overall gender pay gap. This reality leads to the
search for de-segregation and equality at the high end, that is to say, by the entry
of a greater number of women into the higher-status male-dominated
occupations.
Research on segregation does not suggest any spontaneous movement
towards occupational de-segregation. On the contrary, segregation appears to be
stable if not actually increasing (Jonung, 1998). Active measures which have been
taken in several OECD countries in the context of equality of opportunity policies
have undoubtedly had symbolic value but very limited concrete results on the
scale of occupational gender segregation. Anker (1998) indicates only 5 per cent of
women and 3 per cent of men entering an occupation where more than 80 per
cent of employees are of the opposite sex. There is no doubt that women’s
employment will remain highly concentrated in female-dominated occupations
for the foreseeable future. This situation is not wholly disadvantageous to women
inasmuch as many OECD countries note large-scale destruction of male-domi-
nated occupations. Segregation might be seen in these cases to serve as protec-
tion from competition with unemployed men. Moreover, job creation today
mainly occurs in the service sector where most female-dominated occupations are
concentrated. This sector and these occupations will continue to provide major
employment opportunities for women. However, greater emphasis must be
placed on the issue of quality of jobs and career prospects in the occupations.
Thus, the focus should be more on the factors which render these female-domi-
nated occupations low-status and low-paid rather than on the processes that
originate gender occupational segregation as in earlier studies. The objective is to
identify the best means through which to neutralise or even reverse the negative
effects of occupational segregation for women.
SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS
Service relationships are at the heart of female-dominated occupations today
Whether women work directly in the service sector (education, health, social
services) or in other jobs (secretaries), the notion of a service relationship is
central to female-dominated occupations. This service might be directed at an
individual, a user, a client, or support in an enterprise. In all instances, however, it
represents responsibilities concerned with the management of a service relation-
ship (Gadrey, 1997). While this is usually recognised as of central importance, the 9
THE FUTURE OF FEMALE-DOMINATED OCCUPATIONS
‘‘competencies’’ needed to carry out these tasks are not formalised in any way. It
is even difficult to name them (reference is made to ‘‘soft’’, ‘‘social’’ or ‘‘non-objec-
tifiable’’ competencies). Interpersonal competencies are in general not identified
or described and no effective method to evaluate them is actually available. They
are not readily taught in formal training contexts and there is no accepted proce-
dure for validating their acquisition or successful performance in a given profes-
sional situation or in situations outside work. Paradoxically, these skills are none-
theless considered central to certain occupations, especially those which are
female-dominated. This paradox leads further to underestimation of the technical
competencies which also characterise these occupations (information technolo-
gies in the case of secretaries, health technologies of concern to nurses, etc.).
The centrality of the service relationship in female-dominated occupations
has other consequences. It is linked to the fact that many such occupations are
ones in which women work in isolation. The secretary may sit in the front office.
The teacher is on her own with her class. The nursing assistant may care for an
elderly person in the latter’s home. This isolation has a number of implications in
terms of autonomy, responsibility, on-the-job learning, criteria for performance
evaluation. This specificity is generally unrecognised which may lead to biased
perceptions regarding what the work in these occupations actually involves and
the conditions in which it is carried out.
Occupations undertaken in very diverse working conditions
Despite an apparent homogeneity, female-dominated occupations generally
cover a wide variety of working conditions and contexts. The context provides
highly-differentiated conditions within each occupation. With the exception of
primary school teachers, most female-dominated occupations are exercised in a
variety of enterprises, public institutions and administrations. From one occupa-
tion to another and even within the same occupation, the concentration of
employment at the worksite can be very high in certain instances (public services,
large administrations, large enterprises) and very low in others (shops and local
services). Each case corresponds to a specific labour market structure and also
different negotiation and work relations structures. The situation of the secretary
who works in a large business or administration differs in many ways from that of
the single secretary of a small organisation. The same consideration applies to
nurses, saleswomen, and cleaning women.
Beyond the size of the workplace, differences in organisational and institu-
tional features (profit-making private enterprises, centralised public sector bod-
ies concerned with global welfare, associations and local authorities attending
social needs) exercise a strong influence on employment systems and work sta-
10 tuses, their diversity, and sometimes their fragmentation. The public sector has