Part-time work has often been championed as a mechanism for facilitating women's entry into the labour force. Research based on large scale surveys has theorised that employers and women employees can both benefit from part time work. Ethnographic research, on the other hand, has often focused more on the difficult working conditions for part time workers. This paper combines data from a quantitative survey carried out at national level and a locally based qualitative study to examine these issues. It shows that in the retail sector part time work does not just contribute to bringing women into the labour force. It also serves to marginalise them within the labour force. It also shows that forms of part time work being adopted are those most suitable to employers rather than those which might be of use to both employers and female employees. Finally, while women have often chosen to work part time, the conditions of part time workers studied are deteriorating.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AtkinsonJ.1984. Flexible Manning: The Way Ahead. London: Institute of Manpower Studies.
2.
BeechyV.PerkinsT.1987. A matter of hours women, part-time work and the labour market. Cambridge: Polity.
3.
BielenskiH. (in co-operation with) AlalufM.AtkinsonJ.BelliniR.CastilloJ.J.DonatiP.GraversenG.HuygenF.WickhamJ.1994. New Forms of Work and Activity. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
4.
BrugelI.1996. ‘Whose Myths are they Anyway?’British Journal of Sociology47,1: pp. 157–75.
5.
CallanT.FarrellB.1991. Women's Participation in the Irish Labour Market. Dublin: National Economic and Social Council.
6.
CallanT.NolanB.O'NeillD.SweetmanO.1998. Female Labour Supply and Income Inequality in Ireland. Maynooth: NUI Maynooth Economics Department Working Paper Series
7.
CromptonR.HarrisF.1998. ‘Explaining women's employment patterns: ‘orientations to work’ revisited’British Journal of Sociology49,1: pp. 118–35.
8.
CSO1989. Labour Force Survey 1988. Dublin: Stationery Office.
9.
CSO1992. Labour Force Survey 1991. Dublin: Stationery Office.
DalyM.1985. The Hidden Workers. Dublin: Employment Equality Agency.
16.
DalyM.1988. Part-time employment: Some implications for the quality of women's working lives’Women's Studies Review. 1, 1: pp. 1–19.
17.
DexS.1992. ‘Women's Part-time work in Britain and the United States’ in WarmeB.D.LundyK.L.P.LundyL.Working Part-time: Risks and Opportunities. New York: Praeger Publishers.
18.
DineenD.A.1992. ‘Atypical Work Patterns in Ireland: Short Term Adjustments or Fundamental Changes’Administration. 40,3: pp.248–74.
19.
DrewE.1990. Who Needs Flexibility?Dublin: Employment Equality Agency.
20.
DrewE.1992. ‘The part-time option? Women and part-time working in the EC, Women's Studies International Forum. 15: pp. 607–614.
FynesB.MorriseyT.RocheW.K.WhelanB.J.WilliamsJ.1996. Flexible Working Lives, The Changing Nature of Working Time Arrangements in Ireland. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.
23.
GrantL.1991. Part-time work: Women count the cost WYCROW Working Paper Number 1. Bradford: University of Bradford.
24.
GunnigleP.FloodP.MorleyM.TurnerT.1994. Continuity and Change in Irish Employee Relations. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.
25.
GunnigleP.MorelyM.CliffordNTurnerT., with HeratyN.CrowleyM.1997. Human Resource Management in Irish Organisations: Practice in Perspective. Dublin: Oak Tree Press.
26.
HakimC.1995. ‘Five Feminist myths about women's employment’British Journal of Sociology. 46, 3: pp. 427–455.
27.
HakimC.1996a. Key Issues in Women's Work. London: Athlone Press.
28.
HakimC.1996b. ‘The sexual division of labour and women's heterogeneity’British Journal of Sociology. 47,1: pp. 178–88.
29.
HakimC.1998. ‘Developing a Sociological Theory for the twenty-first century: Preference Theory’British Journal of Sociology. 49,1: pp. 137–49.
30.
HuwsU.HurstfieldJ.HoltmaatR.1990. What price flexibility?: The casualisation of women's employment. London: Low Pay Unit.
31.
LucasR.1997. ‘Youth, Gender and Part-Time Work—Students in the Labour Process’Work, Employment and Society. 11,4: pp. 595–614.
32.
National Economic and Social Forum. 1996. Jobs Potential of Work Sharing Forum Report No. 9. Dublin: Government Publications.
33.
O'ConnorP.1998. Emerging Voices Women in Contemporary Irish SocietyDublin: Institute of Public Administration.
34.
O'ConnorP.ShortallS.1999. ‘Does the Border Make a Difference? Variations in Women's Paid Employment North and South’ in BreenR.HeathA.WhelanC. (eds.) Ireland North and South. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
PollertA.1991. Farewell to Flexibility?Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
36.
SmythE.1997. ‘Labour Market Structures and Women's Employment in the Republic of Ireland’ pp. 63–80 in ByrneA.LeonardM. (eds.) Women in Irish Society A Sociological Reader. Belfast: Beyond the Pale Publications.
37.
WalshB.1993. ‘Labour Force Participation and the Growth of Women's Employment, Ireland 1971–1991’, The Economic and Social Review. 24,4: pp. 369–400.
38.
WalshB.O'TooleA.1973. Women and Employment in Ireland. Dublin: Economic and Social Research Institute.
39.
WickhamJ.1997. ‘Part-time Work in Ireland and Europe: Who Wants What Where?’Work, Employment and Society. 11,1: pp 133–51.
