More suited to the job
Are women taking men's jobs? Recent statistics being bounced around on the state of the job market have been hinting that this is the case.
More women are employed now than ever before in Australia. The majority of jobs created in the last decade have been taken by women. The proportion of women aged between 15 and 64 in the work force has increased from 40% in 1966 to 62% in 1993.
But, as with any change in the composition of the work force, bald statements, such as those above, present only a fraction of the real picture. Any interpretation or conclusion drawn from such statistics is unreliable, to say the least, unless it is backed up by further analysis which reveals the patterns behind work force restructuring.
In the 1990s, a global restructuring of the work force has taken place, in line with the dictates of capitalism and international "competitiveness". This has included demands for a "greater flexibility" in the work force and an attack on workers conditions such as award wages, leave provisions and paid overtime. This restructuring agenda has enabled the profits of international capital to be maintained at the cost of working people.
The greater "flexibility" required in this restructuring process has included more part-time and casual labour — more easily exploited, less likely to be unionised and easier to get rid of than permanent full-time staff. The bulk of these jobs have gone to women.
There are many reasons for this. Women appear to be more willing to take on part-time, casual work. This may be because sufficient child care facilities and assistance with housework do not exist to make it possible for women to work and carry household responsibilities without wearing themselves into the ground. Also, women are socialised to expect less from their jobs — their income is seen as the "second" job, less important than that of the family's primary breadwinner — the male.
The high gender segregation of the Australian workforce has meant that those industries which employ a large proportion of part-time, casual staff have tended to employ women.
In other words, the question of who gets employed in the jobs that have been created is integrally linked to the question of what kind of jobs have been created. Permanent, full-time, secure jobs have been lost and more "flexible" jobs have replaced them, while unemployment has gone up.
Women have got these jobs, not because they have taken men's jobs, but because historical discrimination against women within the workplace has meant they are more "suited" to the jobs that have emerged.