Examine and evaluate the extent to which women in the twenty-first Essay

Examine and evaluate the extent to which women in the twenty-first century can be considered to be a reserve army of labour - Essay Example By the beginning of the 21st century, the prevalence of married women in the labor force had marginalized the traditional Marxist construct. Modern theories have illustrated that the modern notion of gender and its impact on the labor market has changed to reflect contemporary reality (Beechey, 1988). In her 1978 paper, â€Å"Women as a Reserve Army of Labour,† Irene Bruegel accords with certain precepts of a gender-based reserve labor army, such as the rigidity of the sexual division of labor. Bruegel concurs with the idea that â€Å"the segregation of women into women’s work is of such ideological importance that it cannot be breached, even where it would yield capital cheaper labour† (Bruegel, 3). Women have also been more vulnerable to the swings of economic Name 2 fortune, yet in Britain during the 1970s the number of women entering the work place increased by nearly 150,000 jobs, while the number of employed men fell by more than 300,000 (Bruegel, 5). This, Bruegel argues, was symptomatic of a long-term trend during which women infiltrated the labor market. This has helped insulate women against cyclical downturns in the economy, traditionally a stumbling block to female employment, in which â€Å"women’s work† tended to be the less stable, more volatile types of employment work addressed by Barron and Norris’ dual labor market division theory (Barron and Norris, 1976). While improvements in technology have lessened the significance of traditional gender differences, employed women remain vulnerable to job loss, particularly to unemployed men seeking to return to work. Bruegel insists that new strategies are needed to defend the integrity of women at work if true equality and the unemployment problem are to be improved (Bruegel, 9). Ann Oakley points to powerfully entrenched cultural factors to explain the relegation of women to the role of reserve labor. For Oakley, the tradition of women performing â€Å"womenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s work,† work that is perceived as more sensitive and connected to the â€Å"feminine mystique,† arises from persistent socio-cultural mores. â€Å"Male-dominated culture has designated as female all labours of emotional connectedness†¦The principal mode of developing this sensitivity in women is the gender-differentiated nuclear family. Women mother. Daughters are transformed into mothers. An autonomous sense of self†¦does not need to develop† (Oakley, 201). Despite the increase in female employment in the 1970s, Oakley maintains that the woman-as-individual versus woman- as-mother-and-wife dichotomy is as strong as ever, and precludes Name 3 the possibility of true labor equality. Oakley’s feminist view incorporates the lack of gender equity in the home, which also hampers the ability of many women to realize their potential in the labor market. For Oakley, this is another oppressive outgrowth of traditionally culture-based gender inequi ty. â€Å"Men create more housework than they do and, in many households, children do as much housework as men†¦Even in supposed paradises of gender equality, such as Sweden, 87 percent of couples do not share housework† (Oakley, 56). For some theorists, the patriarchal orientation of society has, over time, extended from the home into the political realm and the workplace. Sylvia Walby theorizes that when women won political citizenship