On the gender-specific features of types of working hours, wishes regarding working hours and on the utilisation of time among employees in dependent employment

Abstract

"Within the framework of the survey of working hours which has been supported financially by the Ministry for Labour, Health and Social Affairs in Nord-Rhein Westphalen since 1987, the ISO has so far carried out four representative employment surveys. The most recent of these surveys, carried out in 1995, included for the first time workers in the new federal states. 4,085 people in dependent employment aged between 18 and 65 were asked questions about the structure of their working hours, their desires regarding working hours and on the way they spent their time outside work. The study verifies a strong growth of different types of flexible working hours in western and eastern Germany. In western Germany only 17% of people in dependent employment still work under the conditions of normal standard working hours; in eastern Germany it is still 25%. In the area of so-called 'traditional' forms of flexibilisation of working hours, such as shift work, night work, weekend work and overtime, there are hardly any differences between western and eastern Germany. The differences only appear in the 'new' types of flexibilisation such as flexi-time and part-time work. Patterns of labour force participation and wishes regarding working hours show clear gender- specific differences, in particular among employed people living in two-person households. The results regarding utilisation of time show that the allocation of social work continues to follow the traditional division of roles, according to which women undertake the bulk of the informal work (housework, care of children etc.) and men work more intensively in the area of formal work (gainful employment). If there are children in the household, this usually leads to a reduction in the number of hours in gainful employment for women, but for men on the other hand sometimes to an extension of their full-time work (overtime). In this respect, however, differences can be determined between western and eastern Germany: whereas for western German women part-time employment seems to be accepted to a great extent as a means of combining work and family, this form of employment is seen by eastern German women to be at best a temporary solution, as they still orientate themselves towards continuous full-time employment. In spite of this stronger orientation towards employment and the higher ratio of full-time workers among eastern German women, there are also clear gender-specific features in eastern Germany with regard to the allocation of social work: men do more formal work, women more informal work. The doubtful nature of traditional gender-specific features lies in the fact that as a result of these features, women are permanently at a disadvantage with regard to their interests in gainful employment when they have a child. Women's attempts to compensate for these disadvantages individually by remaining in the employment system for the greatest possible amount of time lead to double burdens and a lack of time. The present situation can best be described as anomic: the traditional gender-specific features show numerous functional deficits and gender-specific disadvantages; however new forms of division of work which open up the same opportunities on the labour market for women and men with children are not yet in sight, let alone seriously established." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Bauer, F., Groß, H. & Schilling, G. (1996): Zur Geschlechtsspezifik der Arbeitszeitformen, der Arbeitszeitwünsche und der Zeitverwendung bei den abhängig Beschäftigten. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 29, No. 3, p. 409-427.