ABSTRACT
In the Western world structures of employment, broadly speaking, take two forms: those located in public bureaucracies linked to government, and those located in firms and enterprises committed to profit-seeking in competitive or administered market contexts. This chapter examines whether these two structures of employment in modern Western societies differ in the opportunity that they offer women for attaining leadership positions. It focuses on what Fogarty et al. have called the ‘entrepreneurial bureaucrats’. In the post-Second World War era the first stage in the integration of women in administration has been through the expansion of middle management, and in certain technical strata this has occurred in both the public and the private sectors in the United States and France. In the private and public sectors of both the United States and France executive women are more likely to be found in the traditionally ‘feminine’ areas: education, social services health, retail trade, office management, personnel management, public relations, and accounting.
