TY - JOUR
T1 - The paradoxical processes of feminization in the professions
T2 - The case of established, aspiring and semi-professions
AU - Bolton, Sharon C.
AU - Muzio, Daniel
PY - 2008/6
Y1 - 2008/6
N2 - The past three decades have been characterized by dramatic labour market developments including the mass entry of women to exclusively male domains. Professional work is particularly indicative of this trend where growth in female membership has fuelled optimistic predictions of shattered glass ceilings and gender equality. This article seeks to challenge these predictions and to explore the associated assumptions linked with the feminization of work in the UK. It does so by focusing on three professional groups: law, teaching and management which, despite some substantial differences, present a common and recurrent theme in the gendered processes of professional projects that marginalize, downgrade and exploit women and women's work. It is argued that the fluidity of such processes lead to a series of paradoxes as the professions are increasingly dependent on the contribution of their female members and yet numerical feminization, without truly including women, serves to undermine and even reverse professional projects.
AB - The past three decades have been characterized by dramatic labour market developments including the mass entry of women to exclusively male domains. Professional work is particularly indicative of this trend where growth in female membership has fuelled optimistic predictions of shattered glass ceilings and gender equality. This article seeks to challenge these predictions and to explore the associated assumptions linked with the feminization of work in the UK. It does so by focusing on three professional groups: law, teaching and management which, despite some substantial differences, present a common and recurrent theme in the gendered processes of professional projects that marginalize, downgrade and exploit women and women's work. It is argued that the fluidity of such processes lead to a series of paradoxes as the professions are increasingly dependent on the contribution of their female members and yet numerical feminization, without truly including women, serves to undermine and even reverse professional projects.
KW - Feminization
KW - Horizontal segregation
KW - Professional projects
KW - Professions
KW - Vertical stratification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=47649120544&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0950017008089105
DO - 10.1177/0950017008089105
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:47649120544
SN - 0950-0170
VL - 22
SP - 281
EP - 299
JO - Work, Employment and Society
JF - Work, Employment and Society
IS - 2
ER -