Underestimation of women's participation in the labour force or new forms of inequality between men and women in the labour market?

Abstract

In France, women's participation in the labour force has gradually shifted over the past 30 years. From a situation in which women's right to pursue an occupation was far from being recognized, they came to be viewed as an auxiliary labour force. Women's participation in economic activity as a general practice is now taken for granted. Nowadays the place and role of women in society depend more on their place in the labour force than in the family. This fact clearly cuts across the evolution of the picture reflected in the statistical surveys and ana­ lyses. The problem is no longer one of improving the methods of measuring women's activity, but rather of learning more about the various situations of employment, unemployment or inactivity, in order to identify new forms of inequality between men and women in the labour market and to follow their evolution. The issue now is whether it is possible for women to be less exposed to the risk of unem­ ployment and, when they are at work, to avoid being penalized in comparison with men (precarious­ ness, working conditions, wages, underemployment, segregation in employment and in careers, etc.).