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‘It’s One Rule for Them and One for Us’: Occupational Classification, Gender and Worktime Domestic Labour

Author

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  • Julie Monroe

    (Newcastle University Business School, UK)

  • Steve Vincent

    (Newcastle University Business School, UK)

  • Ana Lopes

    (Newcastle University Business School, UK)

Abstract

In this article, we focus on gender and class to investigate worktime domestic labour. Methodologically, we extend a novel, comparative critical realist method in which occupation-based and gendered positions in productive and reproductive labour are foregrounded. By building theoretical connections between labour process conditions and collective rule-following practices, we illustrate how inequalities are inscribed organisationally. Our analysis provides a more critical contextualisation of technological affordances to develop the literature on how technology is implicated in the reproduction of social inequality. Moreover, our analysis identifies multi-level causal processes, which combine to explain the presence and actualisation of worktime domestic labour or its absence, which is due, principally, to fear of sanction. For realist researchers interested in diversity-based challenges, absences are important because they can point towards specific discriminatory mechanisms. Our investigation thus revealed a surprising level of class-related in-work inequality within the gendered dynamics of domestic work.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Monroe & Steve Vincent & Ana Lopes, 2024. "‘It’s One Rule for Them and One for Us’: Occupational Classification, Gender and Worktime Domestic Labour," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1175-1196, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:38:y:2024:i:5:p:1175-1196
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170241235864
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Natalie Galea & Abigail Powell & Fanny Salignac & Louise Chappell & Martin Loosemore, 2022. "When Following the Rules Is Bad for Wellbeing: The Effects of Gendered Rules in the Australian Construction Industry," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(1), pages 119-138, February.
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