Women's experiences of non-traditional employment: is gender equality in this area a possibility?

Margaret Whittock

Construction Management and Economics, 2002, vol. 20, issue 5, 449-456

Abstract: Currently, skills shortages are prompting the UK government to introduce initiatives intended to break down notions of stereotyped employment and attract women to non-traditional, male-dominated industries such as construction. Thus, it seems timely to revisit a study of the lived experience of non-traditionally employed women, conducted in Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s. Data from this study are presented here, specifically contextualized within R. M. Kanter's (American Journal of Sociology, 82, 965-90) framework of tokenism. Utilizing this framework, the paper examines the relationship that exists between the sexes (women as 'tokens' and males as 'dominants') in the non-traditional settings examined, indicating that barriers remain that women must surmount for gender equality to be achieved. The paper concludes by briefly examining one initiative working pro-actively to remove these barriers, providing women with greater opportunities to pursue non-traditional careers.

Keywords: Women; Non-TRADITIONAL Employment; Tokenism; Lived Experience; Stereotyping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1080/01446190210140197

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