Catherine Hakim

Five feminist myths about women's employment.

Feminist sociology has contributed substantial revisions to theory, especially in the sociology of work and employment. But it is also creating new feminist myths to replace the old patriarchal myths about womens attitudes and behaviour. Five feminist myths about womens employment are discussed whose acceptance as fact is not damaged by being demonstrably untrue. Arguably the most pervasive is the myth of rising female employment. The myth that womens work commitment is the same as that of men is often adduced to resist labour market discrimination. The myth of childcare problems as the main barrier to womens employment is commonplace in advocacy research reports. The myth of poor quality part-time jobs is used to blame employers for the characteristic behaviour of part-time workers, including high labour turnover. The issue of the sex differential in labour turnover and employment stability illustrates clearly how feminist orthodoxy has replaced dispassionate sociological research in certain topics. The concluding section considers the implications of such feminist myths for an academic community that claims to be in the truth business and for theories on the sexual division of labour.

Core and Periphery in Employers' Workforce Strategies: Evidence from the 1987 E.L.U.S. Survey

Current debates about changing patterns of work tend to be structured around Atkinsons model of the flexible firm, which is similar to Loveridges model of firm-specific labour markets. Two spring 1987 national surveys, of workers and of employers, are analysed to show that the balance between core and periphery in the workforce is indeed changing, but that this labour force restructuring is due primarily to traditional and opportunistic approaches to the use of peripheral workers among employers. Employers with a conscious core- periphery manpower strategy constitute a small minority and they do not employ disproportionate numbers of peripheral workers. They are distinguished by a more thoroughgoing reorganisation of work, with greater use of subcontractors, the self-employed and agency workers. The long-term implications are considered.

Self-Employment in Britain: Recent Trends and Current Issues

This paper reviews trends in self-employment up to the 1980s and beyond, and looks at the composition and characteristics of the self-employed workforce. It examines the causes of the current rise in self-employment - in particular employers strategy of transferring jobs and functions from their `core workforce of full-time permanent employees to a `peripheral workforce which includes self-employed labour-only subcontractors as well as part-time workers and people with limited duration contracts of employment. It looks at the recent inflow to self-employment - in particular the importance of involuntary entrants. It examines the ideology of self-employment, and whether it differs substantively from the work orientations of employees. Problems of definition and measurement are summarised. The review concludes with pointers for further research - both qualitative and quantitative.

Workforce Restructuring, Social Insurance Coverage and the Black Economy

The national insurance system of contributory work-related benefits was designed for a ‘core’ workforce in continuous full-time employment. It provides incomplete coverage for the rising numbers of people in the peripheral workforce: part-time jobs, temporary work and self-employment. National estimates are presented for workers whose earnings are below the national insurance threshold, and who are thus excluded from social security benefits such as unemployment, sickness and retirement benefits—roughly 2 million in the period 1985–87. It is estimated that another million workers at least are within the NI net, but outside the income tax net. In addition, there are up to 2 million non-working people who have trivial earnings that leave them outside the NI and tax nets. Homeworkers are found in both these groups. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for claims about the size of the black economy and the characteristics of people participating in the black economy, and for the future development of the social insurance system.