ABSTRACT
Precarious employment is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon. The country studies in this book highlight this complexity, revealing that particular dimensions are more or less salient in different times and places, and that gender relations can shape precariousness in various ways. For the most part, the case studies draw on cross-sectional data, as does the majority of research that addresses precarious employment in a multidimensional way. Yet questions of change over time are critical to how we understand precariousness in relation to individual life-chances and gendered patterns of inequality. After all, a similar incidence of precarious employment among women (or men) at a given point in time is consistent with a scenario in which many women (men) experience precariousness, but only for short periods, and one where some women (men) are much more likely to become trapped in a cycle of ongoing precariousness. The two scenarios imply different policy approaches to mitigating the consequences of precarious employment, and indeed, rather different stakes. They likely also reflect differences in underlying labour market institutions and the reproductive bargain (Gottfried, this book).
