ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to trace the development of two sets of literature, which have explored women's position either within or outside of the labour market. Firstly, labour market segmentation theory, which has explored women's labour market activity from its understanding of the ways in which labour markets operate. Secondly, the development of literature on gender within geography which acknowledged that women operate primarily from the home, and consequently it was in fact the home which determined labour market activity not vice versa. Initial literature from both labour market theorists and feminist geographers treated men and women almost as two separate categories. Patriarchy can be evident in many forms including the sets of rules that allow movement within the labour market. Many socialist feminists have seen the patriarchal nuclear family as an important source of women's oppression; women's labour is exploited within the home and their domestic responsibilities dictate the terms of women's position in the labour market.
