Gender in work in Australia

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The end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st century brought a lot of changes into the social interactions, relations between genders and into the division of their roles. The tendency of changes is also reflected in altering the nature of the Australian workforce according to the question of male and female involving into the labour market.

The transformation of the people’s vision of the role of a woman in the society resulted in the women’s active participation in the working process. Broomhill and Sharp pay attention to the fact that it is possible to observe the changing male breadwinner model in Australia which is caused by the historical process of the society’s development and a lot of other social and economic factors (Broomhill & Sharp 2005).

The peculiarities of the modern society’s progress are based on the necessity to change the traditional vision of the gender roles’ division among men and women in relation to their involvement in the labour market because of the globalisation’s tendencies and altering the public’s attitude to households which were usually discussed as women’s activity.

What events caused the present-day issue of changing the male breadwinner model in Australia as a reason to speak about the new gender order? Broomhill and Sharp build their argument about the development of this new gender order and discussion of the question about the significance of the changes in the model with references to examining this process from the historic perspective and with paying attention to the most important social events and changes.

According to the researchers, the period after World War II was extremely significant for creating the necessary conditions for changing the current gender order. The male breadwinner model typical for the 1950s lost its importance during the 1960s, and later the process became more intensive (Broomhill & Sharp 2005). The economic growth and the demand for labour can be discussed as the key factors for involving more women in the working process.

Having presented the historical retrospective of the process of changing the model, Broomhill and Sharp determine such additional aspects of the phenomenon as the division of the market, the availability of services, the activity of the women’s movements, and the women’s financial independence, and the researchers’ conclusions are based on the detailed statistical data provided (Broomhill & Sharp 2005).

To confirm the reality of changing the male breadwinner/female carer model, it is necessary to refer to the factual information and numbers. Thus, Broomhill and Sharp provide statistics according to such criteria as the peculiarities of women and men’s employment, the prevalence of full-time or part-time work, the difference in wages, and the comparison with the situation in the neighbouring territories (Broomhill & Sharp 2005).

Moreover, possible unemployment can be characteristic either for men or women without references to gender and be the result of changes in the labour demand (Keating 2003).

If Broomhill and Sharp discuss the issue of the women’s active participation in the labour market from the point of increasing their activity in earning money, Baxter provides some glimpses on the process from the point of decreasing the time women spend on housework (Baxter 2002). Thus, the process is interchanged and should be discussed from different positions.

It is the fact that the definite processes of changing the traditional male breadwinner model were typical for the recent years, but it is impossible to speak about the extreme transformation of the structure in relation to the division of the gender roles. In spite of the fact women actively participate in the process of earning money for the family, the statistical data support the fact women prefer part-time jobs to have enough time to spend it with a family and do the necessary households.

Moreover, the increase of the percentage of working women should be discussed in connection with the decrease of the general percentage of the working men (Broomhill & Sharp 2005). The process is also correlated with the situation of more men’s participating in household activities in comparison with the period of the end of the 20^th centuries (Baxter 2002).

Thus, it is possible to focus on reducing the idea of dominance of this or that gender in performing this or that activity. However, this transformation is not radical, and it is the result of the society’s development. Gottfried concentrates on the role of globalisation in the process of changing the traditional models and gender roles which were characteristic for the previous century (Gottfried 2004).

The nature of the workforce in relation to the question of gender changed in Australia significantly. This situation is the result of the society’s progress and economic demands. Today, it is impossible to speak about following the division of gender roles strictly. Nevertheless, Broomhill and Sharp focus on the idea that there is a tendency according to which women are inclined to choose part-time jobs, and the increase of working women is correlated with the decrease of men as the representatives of the definite professions.

Reference List

Baxter, JH 2002, ‘Patterns of change and stability in the gender division of household labour in Australia, 1986-1997’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 399-424.

Broomhill R & Sharp R 2005, ‘The changing male breadwinner model in Australia: a new gender order?’, Labour & Industry, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 103-127.

Gottfried, H 2004, ‘Gendering globalization discourses’, Critical Sociology January, vol. 30 no. 1, pp. 9-15.

Keating, M 2003, ‘The labour market and inequality’, Australian Economic Review, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 374-396.

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Gender in work in Australia

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