Divergent female part-time employment in Britain and Denmark and the implications for gender equity

This paper examines women's employment in Britain and Denmark, societies ch aracterised similarly by high proportions of female employees working part- time but by rather different gender arrangements. Part-time working is asso ciated with female-carer workers; women who have reduced their hours in the labour market to bring up children and are able to do this because of the presence of an alternative source of income - usually a male breadwinner. Y et Denmark has been conceptualised as having more of 'dual-breadwinner' gen der arrangement than Britain. It would seem then, that part-time working is distinctly different in these two societies. Examining this question, the paper concludes that extensive part-time working for women, and not men, do es indeed tend to reinforce a traditional male-breadwinner model. However, the strength of this reinforcement varies, depending on the relative condit ions of the part-time labour market. These conditions vary substantially cr oss-nationally and can also change rapidly within one society over time. As a result, the typical 'role' a part-time job plays for women can also vary cross-nationally and can change over time.