ABSTRACT
Somewhere between sociology and economics, knowledge about women's employment and non-employment, is pursuing its long march. Little has been done in the way of actual research on women's unemployment, and on putting women and men's unemployment into perspective. While studies began to document the irreversable rise m women's labour force participation and their conquest of highly qualified managerial jobs already underway in the 1980s, the legitimacy of women engaging in paid work nonetheless continued to be problematic. By approaching the position of women on the margins of employment and labour force participation, then, we may reveal new patterns in gestation and raise new questions about work, as it has been defined. In analysing women's and men's unemployment, there is a definite need to draw a distinction between the new management and evaluation practices as they are applied to the labour force and what they might be, if firms were capable of developing organisational models for enhancing qualifications and improving skills.
