Whilst a common and persisting feature of advanced market economies, the gender wage gap nevertheless varies across countries. Amongst the factors affecting this wage gap, industrial relations and industry differences still require further research. Using data from EU-SILC in 25 European countries, this article analyses how national wage-setting institutions impact wage differences between male and female full-time employees in three distinct industries. Complementing the country comparison is an in-depth study of the German case using data from the German Linked Employer-Employee Database, shedding light on the interaction of industryspecific wage-setting regulations and gender equity in living wages. Findings from the international comparison suggest a substantial gender wage gap for full-time employees across industries with specific country patterns. Country patterns seem to be due to the overall influence of trade unions and the relationship between pay bargaining strategies and specific minimum wage policies. The German case adds to these findings by analysing the impact of sectoral models of wage bargaining for industry-specific gender wage gaps, focussing on living wages for skilled full-time employees.

Reconstructing the parallel structure of 'dual' and 'school-based' vocational routes reveals the close connection between the German vocational training system and the segmentation of the labour market by gender. The example of jobs in childcare and pre-primary education shows that the legacy of semi-professionalism in these occupations is not just rooted in the nature of training and working conditions, but complexly interlinks with the prevalence of the male breadwinner model sustained by social policy regulations and the German taxation system. In France, by contrast, the central state takes responsibility for the provision of childcare from zero to six years of age to support female labour force participation and dual-earner couples. This has also fostered professionalisation in the respective occupations. Whilst this may not necessarily induce a degendering process at the level of horizontal segregation of vocational qualifications, it facilitates gender equality in terms of vertical mobility and the professional status of women. IntroductionWithin the OECD countries, the German system of vocational education and training (VET) remains central to economic prosperity and social mobility. Even under conditions of globalisation, welfare state restructuring and the recent economic crisis, the dual apprenticeship system 1 upholds a model function, mainly because it can be directly linked to low rates of youth unemployment (OECD 2013a) and the sustainable production of skilled labour. In a comparative perspective, these advantages persist despite demographic shifts and related possible future staff shortages.The dominant assessment of the German VET system, however, obscures its gendered structure and dynamics, which continue to impact on female labour force participation and the reproduction of gendered professions (see Jørgensen 2015, and Taylor, Hamm, and Raykov 2015, on gendered systems of VET and employment elsewhere in Europe and North America). Alongside the dominant apprenticeship training for skill formation in manufacturing, industry and the commercial fields, a school-based vocational track covers skill formation for the social, educational, care and some medical professions. Heterogeneity and lack of skills protection result in profiling the school-based routes as semi-professional. Furthermore, these

The historically dominant male breadwinner and female carer model in West Germany has resulted in comparably low female employment rates and a gender-structured labor market. Since the 1970s, the decline of traditional patterns and sectors of male employment has been accompanied by the expansion of the female-dominated service sector. Supplemented by women's higher educational attainment, a pluralism of household forms, and German unification, the result has been constant growth in female employment. With more working mothers, the question of combining work and family has provoked policy responses that, in West Germany, have mainly centered on family leave policies. In addressing the question of whether these policies have resulted in a more equitable sharing of paid and family work, this article presents longitudinal empirical data on the working patterns of women entitled to different forms of family leave. These show how changing regulations have led to the institutionalization of a "baby break" for younger women and to the promotion of labor market exclusion.

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The paper addresses potential changes in the patterns of work and private life among freelancers in Germany's media industry (journalists, designers, software developers). In the first step, we analyze how freelance workers have been integrated into Germany's regulations for the labor market. Our analysis points to important differences between the professional groups. In a second step, we ask whether freelancers in the German media industry fit the picture of workaholics. Our interviews with freelancers show that only a minority has thoroughly blurred the boundaries between work and life, while most others still draw a clear line between the two. Findings on partnerships reveal that structurally equal dual-earner arrangements are widespread, but are not the only type of gender arrangement. An important group opts for structurally specialized arrangements based on traditional as well as reversed gender roles. In the final discussion we assess to what extent German trends in the changing patterns of work and life converge with those in the US and in the UK.

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Starting with a comparative assessment of different welfare regimes and political economies from the perspective of gender awareness and "pro-women" policies, this paper identifies the determinants of cross-national variation in women's chances of being in a high-status occupation in twelve West European countries. Special emphasis is given to size and structure of the service sector, including share of women in public employment and structural factors such as trade union density and employment protection. The first level of comparison between men and women concentrates on gender representation in the higher echelons of the job hierarchy, while in the second section we extend the scope of analysis, comparing women in high-status occupations and low-wage employment in order to allow for a more nuanced study of gender and class interaction. The first analysis is based on European Social Survey data for the years 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, capturing recent trends in occupational dynamics. Results indicate that in general a large service sector and a high trade union density enhance women's chances of being in a high-status occupations while more specifically a large public sector helps to reduce channeling women in low-wage employment. Thus, equality at the top can well be paired with inequality at the bottom, as postindustrial countries with a highly polarized occupational hierarchy such as the UK show.