The Other Side of the Equation – The Demands of Women on Re‐entering the Labour Market

Abstract

The recent interest in women returning to, or increasing their, labour market participation has largely ignored the skills and aspirations of women themselves. This article is based on a survey of mothers of young children in a fairly prosperous part of the South East of the UK. Research findings indicate that women lack confidence about their ability to return to economic activity, have a high demand for training, and expect to be frustrated in their career aspirations if training is not available. Childcare provision, flexible working hours and training would enable them to increase their participation in work. Constraints operate on the level of entry to the labour market and prevent women achieving their full potential. The discussion considers the forces which can facilitate or impede the full participation and development of women at work: occupational segregation, employer attitudes, the gender bias within organisations, Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs), trade unions and changing labour market demands. The findings indicate important policy directions for employers, trade unions and TECs to utilise this human resource more effectively.

Understanding Female Inactivity in Malta

“…Campaigns emphasizing the widening of horizons when a woman works: While staying at home can be an option, the benefits of working go beyond financial incentives (including a pension) and contributing to the economy by paying taxes. These include non-tangible benefits such as taking better care of oneself (grooming), meeting more people and making new friends, and doing something different from housework (variety), as well as various personal and professional development aspects (Bezzina et al, 2013; Dex et al, 2008; Healy & Kraithman, 1991). In this regard, one may need to re-evaluate how effective governmental policies on tax incentives are as a means of attracting female homemakers to the labor market.…”

“…Similar to Dex et al (2008), Healy and Kraithman (1991) researched women in the United Kingdom who return to work and those who do not. The incentives for women who return were mainly economic, but also included non-tangible ones such as a career, personal development, job status, and also the idea of making new friends at work.…”

Structuring Commitments in Interrupted Careers: Career Breaks, Commitment and the Life Cycle in Teaching

“…These factors enable a more effective control of time, which is of particular importance in the post-career break, or interim phase, reflecting the importance of temporal commitment to work at this stage in their life cycle which enables a dual commitment to both work and home. Controlling time, through working fewer hours, and containing time spent getting to and from work become of particular significance and are a rational response to the increased demands on time, and its significance to returners is reflected in previous studies (Hardill and Green 1990;Healy and Kraithman 1991). Intrinsic factors to work are of next importance in the ranking with job satisfaction expressed by 11%, type of school cited by 9%, subject 6% and friendships and status 2%.…”

“…The 'Affluent Worker' study demonstrated the importance of 'instrumental' orientations to work for men (Goldthorpe and Lockwood 1968) and H. Becker (1964) stressed the importance of 'side bets' in terms of loss of 'valuables' that would be incurred with job loss or change. Studies of women have also confirmed the importance of financial reasons for women's commitment to work (Brannen and Moss 1991, p. 81;Healy and Kraithman 1991;Martin and Roberts 1984). Managerial assumptions about material commitment as a motivator to enhance employee and therefore organizational performance drive the resurgence of performance-related pay systems (Hume 1995).…”

“…The categories provided in the questionnaire were influenced by those used by Healy and Kraithman (1991), Martin and Roberts (1984), the commitment literature (above) and aspects of teaching work, e.g. the subject taught.…”