Sexual Divisions and the Dual Labour Market

Abstract

To begin to understand the reasons for sex-related occupational differentiation in the labour market, which is the object of this chapter, it is necessary to consider both the sexual norms which define the place of men and women in the household and outside it, and the forces which operate in the labour market itself. The emphasis in this chapter is on the structure of the labour market, and the question of men and women’s place in the family — the household sexual division of labour — is relegated to the status of an explanatory factor which contributes to, but does not of itself determine, the differentiation between the sexes in their work roles. The structure of the labour market is seen as one cause among several of women’s overall social position, albeit an important one. Ideological factors are, in this view, both cause and effect of women’s inferior position in the labour market and within the family.