Women, Labor Segmentation and Regulation ― Varieties of Gender Gaps

This book re-shapes thinking on ‘gender gaps’—differences between men and women in their incomes, their employment and their conditions of work. It shows how the interaction between regulation distance and content, labor segmentation and norms helps us understand various aspects of gender gaps.

It brings together leading authors from industrial relations, sociology, politics, and feminist economics, who outline the roles the family, state public policy, trade unions and class play in creating gender gaps, and consider the lessons from international comparisons. While many studies have focused on the role of society or organizations, this book also pays attention to the role of occupations in promoting and reinforcing gender gaps, discussing groups such as apparel outworkers, film and video workers, care workers, public-sector professionals like librarians, chief executives, academics, and coal miners.

This book will be of interest to practitioners, policy makers, academics and students interested in understanding why inequality between men and women persists today—and what might be done about it.

David Peetz is Professor of Employment Relations at Griffith University, Nathan, Australia. He is the author of Unions in a Contrary World and Brave New Workplace, co-author of Women of the Coal Rushes and a co-researcher at the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work, Montreal.

Georgina Murray is Associate Professor at Griffith University, Nathan, Australia. She is the author of many articles and papers, as well as Capitalist Networks and Social Class in Australia and New Zealand, co-author of Women of the Coal Rushes, and co-editor of Financial Elites and Transnational Business: Who Rules the World?.