Gender, Age, and Labour Market Experiences

Abstract

Labour market demographics in much of the industrialised world are changing; workforces are ageing (Truxillo and Fraccaroli 2013), while at the same time, the workforce participation of women is increasing (Thevenon 2009). Such changes mean that the workforce has become more diverse. Linked with that, organisational interest in, and awareness of, the need for diversity management and equality has also increased as the impact of stereotyping and unequal treatment of particular groups is increasingly understood. Stereotyping and biased decision-making on the basis of an individual’s characteristics (e.g. age or gender) can have a profound impact on their labour market and workplace experiences. Furthermore, the stereotyping of particular groups plays a significant role in occupational segregation (both horizontal and vertical). While gender equality in the workplace has received significant attention for some time, and a rich body of literature exists on gender and labour market experiences, much less attention has focused on the impact of the combination of gender and age on worker’s labour market experiences during their working lives.