GENDER DIVISIONS OF LABOR IN THE POST-FORDIST ECONOMY - THE MAINTENANCE OF OCCUPATIONAL SEX SEGREGATION IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR

The purpose in this paper is to bring together a set of arguments abou t the general significance of service-sector employment in advanced in dustrial economies, the consequences of feminisation and casualisation for the occupational structure in these societies, particularly in 'g lobal' cities, and the changing nature of gender divisions of labour. After a general outline of the changing distribution of work, the exam ple of financial services, which are of enormous significance in globa l cities such as London, will be taken to investigate the consequences of the coincidence of these changes for employees in professional occ upations. The particular empirical illustration of the arguments is an analysis of the social division of labour in merchant banks in the Ci ty of London in the early 1990s.