ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on geographical variations in employment and experiences of paid work, with a particular focus on women. Its fundamental premise is that where individuals live is important for the quantity and quality of employment available to them (Green 2009) and so for opportunities for skills utilisation and career development. It outlines quantitative and qualitative dimensions of employment by gender at international and sub-national levels. In particular, at the local level of everyday lives, the chapter uses the concept of gendered localisation to suggest that, due to the so-called double shift of paid and unpaid household work practised by many – albeit not all – women, a geographical perspective is particularly important for understanding the opportunities and constraints faced by women in accessing employment and developing their careers. This is especially so for less-skilled women who are more limited than their more highly-skilled peers in the jobs that they can perform.
