ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Part II on Restructuring Labour Markets in which women are adopting an ever increasing role, with thousands of women joining the workforce in different EU states. It shows how women’s activity rate has increased in all countries in the European Union, at the same time as men’s activity rate has declined in most countries. As a result, women form an increasing part of the labour force in all countries-on average 42 per cent for all member states in 1995, ranging from 36 per cent in Luxembourg to 48 per cent in Sweden (Eurostat 1996c). The chapter goes on to outline how the flexibility requirements of employers have led to gendered forms of ‘atypical’ working in which women predominate in part-time employment1 while men are more heavily represented in shift working, night/evening and weekend forms of ‘atypical’ working. These employment patterns have had a differential impact on segregation, pay and conditions and the career prospects of women and men in EU labour markets.
