Myths and Counter-Myths: An Analysis of Part-Time Female Employees and Their Orientations to Work and Working Hours

Janet Walsh
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Janet Walsh: Department of Management University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria 3052 AUSTRALIA

Work, Employment & Society, 1999, vol. 13, issue 2, 179-203

Abstract: The nature and character of the part-time workforce has been at the forefront of recent controversies about women's employment. Drawing on new data on the characteristics, attitudes and preferences of over one thousand female part-time employees, this study highlights important diversities amongst the part-time workforce. The results show that the women in the sample had gravitated to part-time work from a range of different employment backgrounds, and for a variety of motivations. While the majority of the women workers were content with their current part-time work arrangements, a significant minority wished to change their employment status to full-time work and a substantial number of part-time women workers wanted to return to full-time work in the future. The research examines the characteristics of such women, and argues that the stereotyping of the part-time workforce as universally `home-centred' or committed to the `marriage career' is misplaced.

Date: 1999
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:13:y:1999:i:2:p:179-203

DOI: 10.1177/09500179922117908

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