GENDER RELATIONS AND EMPLOYMENT

We will examine a range of theoretical approaches to the explanation of the structuring of this "difference'. Our major focus will be on the British case, but we will also make reference to the way in which women's employment has been structured in France. The discussion will emphasise the complexity of the processes involved as no single theory can explain the outcome of the gendered division of labour in the public sphere. Comparative analysis facilitates the exploration of differences, and thus a better understanding of the processes structuring the division of paid employment between men and women. It also enables interesting questions to be raised as to the possible impact of potentially homogenising tendencies on national differences; tendencies which include factors such as the globalization of the capitalist economy as well as the harmonization of legislation within the EC. -from Authors