Appraising a Dichotomy: A Review of ‘Part‐time/Full‐time’ in the Study of Women's Employment in Britain

Abstract

A key theme in women's studies is the move away from an over‐reliance on treating the sexes as two separate groups onto theorizing diversity amongst women. The limitations of a ‘sexual dichotomism’ in the face of diversity is well‐recognized, yet in mainstream research into women's experiences diversity is far from being a popular area of study. The tendency in the literature on women's employment is still to oversimplify any divisions into broad groupings, and in particular into dichotomies. Focusing on the popular dichotomy of part‐time/full‐time employment, the paper highlights two roles that the dichotomy has been expected to perform. The success it has achieved and the problems it has faced in performing these two roles are examined. The conclusion is that whilst the part‐time/full‐time dichotomy is particularly valuable in depicting two differentiated labour market positions, a move beyond the dichotomy would facilitate a greater understanding of the variations in women's employment experiences over the life‐course. The theoretical progression from dichotomizing to disaggregation is ready to happen in the field of women's employment.

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