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D A N I E L M U Z I O *
S H A R O N C. B O L T O N **
ABSTRACT
The past three decades have been characterised by dramatic
labour-market developments including the mass entry of women
into formerly exclusively male domains. Professional work is
particularly indicative of this trend where growth in female
membership has fuelled optimistic predictions of shattered glass
ceilings and gender equality. This paper seeks to challenge these
predictions and to explore the associated assumptions linked with
the feminisation of professional work in the United Kingdom. It
will do this by focusing on two professional groups: law and
management 代写英国留学生论文which, despite some substantial differences, present a
common and recurrent theme in that they celebrate and sustain
a masculine vision of what it is to be a professional. This leads to a
series of paradoxes as the professions are increasingly dependent on
the contribution of their female members, yet women and women’s
work continue to be marginalised, downgraded and exploited.
Key words: professions; feminisation; gender; vertical stratification;
horizontal segregation.
* Lecturer, Department of Organisation, Work and Technology,
Lancaster University Management School
** Reader in Organisational Analysis, Department of Organisation,
Work and Technology, Lancaster University Management School
04.Feminisation and Paradox.qxd 8/22/2006 2:51 PM Page 79
INTRODUCTION
The last ten years have been characterised by dramatic developments
in the labour market. In particular, we have witnessed the mass entry
of women into previously exclusively male domains such as the
traditional professions. These developments have led to increasingly
optimistic predictions with regards to female emancipation and
equal opportunities in what has become known as the feminisation
thesis. For instance, the legal profession, traditionally a bastion of male
privilege, provides an effective example of these developments. In
England and Wales women were altogether excluded from the
profession until the 1920s (Sugarman, 1995) whilst their numbers
never exceeded the 5 per cent mark throughout most of the twentieth
century. However, today female solicitors, following a sustained
period of growth, represent 40 per cent of practicing solicitors
(SRU, 2004) whilst providing the absolute majority in the crucial
under-35 age band. Moreover, given that these trends are set to
continue, the days in which the profession will be (numerically)
predominantly female are not that distant. Similar trends are noticeable
in other white collar and professional occupations, including
management. Much like law, management was a predominantly
male domain characterised throughout most of the twentieth century
by extremely low female participation rates. It was only over the
last twenty years or so that this began to change. Today in Britain,
women represent over 30 per cent of this occupational category
(Wilson, 2005; Chartered Management Institute/Remuneration
Economics, 2004; Office of National Statistics, 2004) compared to
less than 20 per cent in the late 1970s (Davidson and Cooper, 1993).
Therefore, these two key occupational groups seem to be experiencing
some similar developments as women move into traditionall本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。