Gender Relations and Employment: The Impact of Occupation

This paper investigates aspects of the changes brought about by women's continuing entry into paid employment, particularly in higher-level occupations. We will argue that, despite recent criticisms, the occupational structure still remains a useful framework through which to examine processes of social change. We will demonstrate our arguments by drawing on biographical interviews carried out with women doctors and bankers in four different countries. This evidence suggests that there are systematic differences in family building, and in the domestic division of labour, between women in these two occupations. These differences relate to the characteristics of `professional', as compared to `managerial', occupations. Finally, we discuss the wider implications of our findings.