IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ozl/journl/v6y2003i4p497-518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women’s Work in Australia: Trends, Issues and Prospects

Author

Listed:
  • Alison Preston

    (Curtin University)

  • John Burgess

    (University of Newcastle)

Abstract

Notwithstanding massive change in women’s educational outcomes, labour market activity and fertility levels, the last two decades has seen no change in the share of participating women in the full-time labour market, little change in the overall distribution of women across jobs and little change in the size of the Australian gender pay gap. These facts are not easily accounted for by conventional neo-classical theory suggesting the presence of some strong and persistent normative forces (e.g. ideology with respect to gender roles) in the shaping of women’s labour market outcomes. This paper explores the prospects for gender equality within contemporary Australia and concludes that, in the absence of political will and fundamental institutional and social change, the prospects are grim.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Preston & John Burgess, 2003. "Women’s Work in Australia: Trends, Issues and Prospects," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 497-518, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:6:y:2003:i:4:p:497-518
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE064preston.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Judy Wajcman, 2000. "Feminism Facing Industrial Relations in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(2), pages 183-201, June.
    2. Karen Mumford & Antonia Parera-Nicolau, 2003. "The Labour Force Participation of Married Mothers: A Tale of International Catch-Up," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 619-630, December.
    3. Matthew Gray & Lixia Qu, 2003. "Determinants of Australian Mothers’ Employment: An Analysis of Lone and Couple Mothers," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 597-617, December.
    4. Jefferson, T & Preston, A, 2003. "Bargaining for welfare: Gender consequences of Australia's dual welfare model," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 76-96.
    5. Martin Watts, 2003. "The Evolution of Occupational Gender Segregation in Australia: Measurement and Interpretation," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 631-655, December.
    6. Jenny Whittard, 2003. "Training and Career Experiences of Women Part-time Workers in a Finance Sector Organisation: Persistent Remnant of the ‘Reserve Army’?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 537-557, December.
    7. Gillian Whitehouse & Betty Frino, 2003. "Women, Wages and Industrial Agreements," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 6(4), pages 579-596, December.
    8. Iain Campbell & John Burgess, 2001. "Casual Employment in Australia and Temporary Employment in Europe: Developing a Cross-National Comparison," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(1), pages 171-184, March.
    9. Jefferson, Therese & Preston, Alison, 2003. "Bargaining for welfare: Gender consequences of Australia's dual welfare model," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 76-96.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tony Fang & Fiona MacPhail, 2008. "Transitions from Temporary to Permanent Work in Canada: Who Makes the Transition and Why?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 51-74, August.
    2. Anne‐Sophie Bruno & Nathalie Greenan & Jeremy Tanguy, 2021. "Does the Gender Mix Influence Collective Bargaining on Gender Equality? Evidence from France," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 479-520, October.
    3. Icardi, Rossella, 2021. "Returns to workplace training for male and female employees and implications for the gender wage gap: A quantile regression analysis," International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET), European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training (VETNET), European Educational Research Association, vol. 8(1), pages 21-45.
    4. Gerard Lind & Rebecca Colquhoun, 2021. "Analysis of gender segregation within detailed occupations and industries in Australia," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 24(1), pages 47-69.
    5. Christine A. Riordan & Alexander M. Kowalski, 2021. "From Bread and Roses to #MeToo: Multiplicity, Distance, and the Changing Dynamics of Conflict in IR Theory," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(3), pages 580-606, May.
    6. Julie Prowse & Peter Prowse & Robert Perrett, 2022. "‘Women take care and men take charge’: The case of leadership and gender in the Public and Commercial Services Union," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 773-792, May.
    7. Andrew Beer & Rebecca Bentley & Emma Baker & Kate Mason & Shelley Mallett & Anne Kavanagh & Tony LaMontagne, 2016. "Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(8), pages 1542-1558, June.
    8. Somayeh Parvazian & Judith Gill & Belinda Chiera, 2017. "Higher Education, Women, and Sociocultural Change: A Closer Look at the Statistics," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, May.
    9. Mark Wooden, 2001. "How Temporary are Australia's Casual Jobs?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(4), pages 875-883, December.
    10. Geraldine Healy & Gill Kirton, 2013. "The Early Mobilization of Women Union Leaders — A Comparative Perspective," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 709-732, December.
    11. Stephan Humpert, 2014. "Occupational Sex Segregation and Working Time: Regional Evidence from Germany," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 61(3), pages 317-329, June.
    12. Sue Ledwith, 2012. "Gender politics in trade unions. The representation of women between exclusion and inclusion," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 185-199, May.
    13. Christina Purcell & Paul Brook & Rosemary Lucas, 2011. "Between Keeping Your Head Down and Trying to Get Noticed: Agency Workers in French Car Assembly Plants," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 22(2), pages 169-187.
    14. Getinet Astatike Haile, 2021. "Men, women and unions," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 201-217, May.
    15. Matthew Gray & Lixia Qu & Jennifer Renda & David de Vaus, 2004. "Changes in the labour force status of lone and couple Australian mothers, 1983-2002," Labor and Demography 0405004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. George, Elizabeth. & Chattopadhyay, Prithviraj., 2015. "Non-standard work and workers : organizational implications," ILO Working Papers 994883083402676, International Labour Organization.
    17. Wayne Lewchuk, 2017. "Precarious jobs: Where are they, and how do they affect well-being?," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(3), pages 402-419, September.
    18. Wamuthenya, W.R., 2010. "Economic crisis and women’s employment rate in a Sub-Saharan African country," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19427, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    19. Marc Doussard & Nik Theodore, 2006. "The Temporary Staffing Industry and Workforce Development: Assessing a System of Local Experiments," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 21(3), pages 264-278, August.
    20. Veronika Lemeire & Patrizia Zanoni, 2022. "Beyond methodological nationalism in explanations of gender equality: The impact of EU policies on gender provisions in national collective agreements in Belgium (1957–2020)," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(1), pages 47-64, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economics of gender; Labour force and employment; Time allocation and labour supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:6:y:2003:i:4:p:497-518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sandie Rawnsley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/becurau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.