Families and Family Policies in Europe by Linda Hantrias Marie-Therese Letabiler

Author:Linda Hantrias, Marie-Therese Letabiler [Linda Hantrias, Marie-Therese Letabiler]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General, Marriage & Family
ISBN: 9781317891260
Google: d1ePBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-09-19T05:01:04+00:00

Adaptations to worktime arrangements

The main form of worktime flexibility analysed in the sociological literature from the 1970s concerns part-time work (Nicole, 1984; Beechey and Perkins, 1987; Dale and Glover, 1987; Barrère-Maurisson et al., 1989; Daune-Richard, 1993; Blossfeld, 1994; Frotiée, 1994). Job sharing, teleworking and flexitime were later innovations generally introduced by individual firms and have not attracted the same attention.

Over and above the problem of finding a common definition and measurement (see Chapter 5), part-time work has been conceptualised differently from one national context to another (see also Chapter 7): part-time working may be an arrangement sought by employers and employees to their mutual advantage, as in the Netherlands and the Nordic states; it may afford a convenient solution in the short term but, in the longer term, it can be to the detriment of the female workforce, as exemplified by the British case; it may be either imposed or ‘freely’ chosen, as in France; or its status may remain ill-defined, as in Spain.

In the Netherlands, part-time work is conceptualised as a secure form of employment where the hours may be only marginally shorter than for full-time work. High economic activity rates for women in the Nordic states are associated with high part-time rates which are used by women to increase their labour market flexibility without loss of employment rights. In the United Kingdom, short part-time hours may suit employers, since they are exempt from national insurance payments. Women with young children may welcome the opportunity to work very short hours, but in doing so they lose entitlement to employment-related benefits. In France, women in secure public sector employment may choose to reduce their working hours by 20 per cent to be available to look after young children one day a week, but for other women part-time work may be imposed by employers needing a flexible labour force and may involve unsocial hours. It may also serve as a means of sharing out the available work when levels of unemployment are high. In Spain, where part-time rates are relatively low, part-time work is often confused with temporary employment, but it can serve as a way of entering a tight labour market.

When the hours involved are amenable to nursery or school opening times, part-time work may be sought by women (Eurostat, 1995d, table 107) and can afford them a useful means of adapting their work schedules to fit in with arrangements for young children. As illustrated above, the advantages of state regulated part-time working can, however, easily be turned against women, and the sociological literature has amply demonstrated the ways in which flexibility can be used to reinforce a dual labour market.

Flexibility may take other forms which are more characteristic of women’s than men’s working patterns, involving casual work and unemployment (see Chapter 5). Everywhere, women are found to be in lower paid, less secure employment than men, and the proportion of women in lower skilled service jobs has been rising (Rubery and Fagan, 1993). The greater the commitment of women

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