FLEXIBILITY, GENDER AND PART-TIME WORK - EVIDENCE FROM A SURVEY OF THE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE

This paper explores one of the most controversial issues in economic geography - the relationship between industrial restructuring, gender and part-time work. A review of the main labour market theories indicates that they provide only partial explanations for the growth of part-time work. This point is illustrated with a household survey of the economically active in the Southampton city-region. The results indicate that the formal paid work undertaken by women cannot be universally designated as peripheral, for in many respects there are greater differences between part-time work and full-time work than between men and women's full-time jobs. Despite the inferior pay and conditions experienced by women part-time workers, the survey indicated considerable satisfaction amongst part-time workers. These findings are related to the relatively buoyant economic conditions prevailing in the Southampton city-region at the time of the survey.