ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the formation of gender inequalities among French and English secondary school teachers in and out of schools, with specific reference to the complex interaction among various levels of the social world in the formation of identities and inequalities. Cross-national comparison serves a heuristic purpose as, by highlighting societal variations, it questions discourses which naturalise, essentialise and individualise gender differences. On a meso-social level, the definition of teachers’ working conditions can be linked to the universalist, republican and Jacobin values underpinning the whole school system. Working part-time also influences gender equality in the home as, in the case of women in a heterosexual partnership, the division of domestic work has been shown to be most unequal when women are unemployed or work part-time. French teachers were overall more likely to be satisfied with their ‘work-life balance’, but significant gender differences emerged within each country in relation to the use of ‘leisure time’.
