WP 36 - Women's Preferences or Delineated Policies? The development or part-time work in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom

Women's Preferences or Delineated Policies?

and career opportunities, signify various obstacles and shortcomings on the road to defining part-
time work as decent work. In Germany there are conditions for a similar strategy, though there
appears to be more reluctance to accept this strategy, especially among the social partners, but
perhaps also among German employees, both male and female. In the UK, however, part-time work
developed in a far less regulated context and has, as a consequence, become heavily associated with
marginal employment, low pay and little skill training. A qualitative strategy of normalisation,
upgrading the rights and attractions of part-time work, would require a much greater and most
likely joint effort of the government, unions and employers.

We conclude with some remaining questions regarding the growth of part-time work among
women that are not answered in this paper. Why did Dutch women continue to work in part-time
jobs, despite more opportunities for full-time work and rapidly falling unemployment rates? Why did
they not follow the road of Danish women? How decisive or important are leave rights in such
developments and how do unemployment benefits rights figure in? Is the higher full-time job rate
among Danish compared to Dutch women also reflective of higher divorce rates and more Danish
women living on their own? How are norms concerning working hours and leisure, and full-time and
part-time work, shaped and changed? Why is the take-up rate of leave rights among men so low and
why do only few women use their right to change working hours in all three countries? How do
relative wage differences, education and training rights influence the gender structure of part-time
and leave decisions? Finally, the issue of choice and control over when and how long one works - in
a lifetime perspective - should be an issue high on the agenda of research and in the search for
decent work.

AIAS - UvA

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