ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at some experiences of work and considers how the legal framework under which businesses operate interacts with the cultural assumptions underlying men's and women's participation in paid and unpaid work. Pedulla supports the view that workplace policies and practices have an impact not just on what goes on within the workplace, but also feed back into family division of labour. The 'motherhood penalty' usually refers to the pay gap between working mothers and those without dependent children. A number of policy initiatives and anti-discrimination legislation have tried to address barriers between men and women in the labour market with the aim of achieving greater equality, but they largely assume that it is women who have primary responsibility for child care. Over the last 30 years the economic, social and technological context within which the labour market operates has led to women's employment being recognised as crucial for economic growth.
