ABSTRACT
Women’s employment has often been considered secondary or marginal in social and economic theory. This has included conceptions of women as a reserve of labour; as secondary workers; and, more recently, as ‘numerically flexible’ workers. Further, women are seen to inhabit only the secondary, and less skilled, part of the labour force. However, the changes in women’s employment described in the last chapter cast doubt on the extent to which women’s employment as a whole is secondary or marginal.
