Feminisation of the Labour Force in Britain and France

Abstract

Similar trends in women’s employment have been visible in Britain and France over the period since the Second World War. In both countries women’s participation rates have increased, so that by 1987, 62.6 per cent of women of working age in Britain and 55.7 per cent in France were in the labour force (Eurostat, 1989). The percentage of women in the labour force was similar in the two countries: 43.1 per cent in Britain and 42 per cent in France. In the post-Second World War period both societies have experienced change in the pattern of female labour force participation over the life-cycle: in France the M-shape of the participation rates by age has now virtually disappeared giving a relatively smooth pattern of participation over prime age ranges. In the UK an M-shape pattern still prevails, although the dip in the twenties and thirties age brackets have been moderated.