ABSTRACT
The local labour market provides with specific examples of the more generalized divisions existing between male and female workers in Britain's labour force. The formation of sexual divisions in different industries and occupations constitutes part of a social and historical process. V Beechey has suggested that both Karl Marx and Marxists have failed to provide a materialist analysis of the form which the family has taken historically. The increasing participation of women in the labour force from the 19th century did not result in a less sexually segregated workforce between different occupations and industries. In C. Hakim's survey of the changing pattern of women's employment from 1900 to 1970, the intensification of these divisions is shown to have taken two forms: vertical and horizontal job segregation. The survey does reveal some important features of women's position in the labour market despite these shortcomings in the model.
