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•  Comparing professional and bureaucratic
  careers from a gender perspective in France and
  Britain 
• Nicky Le Feuvre
• Pôle SAGESSE du laboratoire CERTOP-CNRS
• Savoirs, Genre et rapports Sociaux de Sexe
• Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, France
• lefeuvre_at_univ-tlse2.fr

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Objectives

1. Identify the mechanisms underlying the increasing
   feminization of higher level occupations in 2
   countries historically characterized by
   relatively different gender contracts and
   social welfare regimes
2. Analyse the degree to which the feminization
   process represents a challenge to the dominant
   gender regimes in these occupations
3. Compare the consequences of womens entry into
   these professions via bureaucratic (salaried)
   or professional (self-employment) forms of
   employment in terms of the reproduction /
   reconfiguration of gender relations in each
   national context.

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Research questions

• To what extent does the feminization of previous
  male bastions in the occupational hierarchy
  contribute to a radical transformation of the
  material and symobolic foundations of the
  existing  sex/gender  system?
• In other words, is the increase in womens access
  to the upper levels of the occupational hierarchy
  necessarily a reliable empirical indicator of an
  increase in gender equlity in contemporary
  European societies?

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The sex/gender system

• Used here as a short-hand expression of the
  total social organisation of labour
  (Glucksmann, 1995) or total social phenomenon
  (Kergoat, 2000), based on two, interrelated
  social processes
• A division / differentiation of gendered
  categories ( taboo of similarity between the
  sexes ) (Mathieu, 1992)
• A hierarchy between the gendered categories thus
  created ( differential value of the sexes )
  (Héritier, 1996).

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Analysing the feminization of male bastions
requires paying attention to different levels of
social reality

• 1. Macro social  gender contract 
• A comparaison of the historical construction of
  womens (and mens) relationship to the labour
  market and the family in different societal
  contexts (France / Britain)
• 2. Meso social  gender regime 
• Comparaison of the dominant modes of practice
  within different occupational groups, including
  the organisation around  bureaucratic vs
   professional  careers
• 3. Micro social  gendered experiences 
• Comparaison of the individuel level management of
  the normes associated with the gender contract
  and gender regime dimensions of the context
  (may be characterised by conformity,
  contestation, transgression, of existing norms.)

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Working hypotheses

• Several distinct social mecanismes may enable
  women to enter existing male bastions the
  feminization process is never based on a single
  social process.
• The precise meaning of the increasing entry of
  women into the existing  male bastions  (in
  terms of the reproduction / transformation of the
  existing sex/gender system) depends to a large
  extent on the precise mecanismes by which this
  feminization is acheived, in a given societal
  and/or occupation context.

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3.
1. The French and British  gender contrats 

• France Relatively high full-time activity rates
  and continuous career patterns (particularly for
  qualified women) fairly extensive state support
  for the externalisation of domestic activities
  (child-care, domestic services), but taxation
  system generally unfavorable to dual-earner
  households, mens share of domestic labour
  limited and low levels of implementation of equal
  opportunity measures in the workplace
• GB Relatively high female activity rates, but
  historically on a part-time and discontinuous
  basis, low levels of state support for dual
  earner households (until recently), but, less
  unfavorable tax system, relatively higher levels
  of participation in family life by partners of
  the small number of (highly qualified) full-time
  working women and more extensive equal
  opportunity measures in the workplace.

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2. The  gender regimes  in professional /
managerial occupations

• Bureaucratic / Organisational careers (salaried)
• Relatively easy access to employment
  citizenship benefits (eg. Paid maternity leave)
•  Subjective  recruitment and promotion criteria
  (individual performance-related evaluations)
• Hierarchical organisational structures
•  Time commitment  and  spacial mobility  as
  promotion criteria
•  Up or out  management techniques, except in
  the case of specific equal opportunity measures.

• Professional careers
• (self-employed)
• Almost no employment citizenship benefits
•  Objective  recruitment criteria
  (qualifications mandate)
• Multiple forms of practice (individuel
  self-employment, group practice, professional
  associations)
• Ability to mobilise personal contacts and
  construct networks main criteria of
  professional success
• Relative  time sovereinty  in the work-life
  interface, despite long hours

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Caracteristices of the feminizing professions

• France
• Universalistic conception of gender equality (
  equal treatment)
• Predominance of small-scale employment units and
  of self-employment
• Individual-level management and time sovereinty
  possible via self-employment, but limited access
  to family-friendly measures in salaried
  employment
• Extensive state support for womens employment,
  but little investment by partners or employers.

• Great-Britain
• Differentialiste conception of gender equality
  (positive action)
• Predominance of large-scale bureaucratic units
  and of salaried employment
• Family-friendly working arrangements available
  in (some) salaried positions ( mummy tracks ),
  but usually long working hours in self-employment
• Support from partner and employer required to
  stay on career track, but relatively limited
  state support (until recently).

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Consequences of the different contexts and
mecanisms of the feminization process?

• Possible to identify (at least) two underlying
  logics
• A feminisation process based on the continuing
  allocation of domestic responsibilities to women
  and the elaboration of specific female career
  patterns, even in highly qualified occupations
  (cf. the  féminitude  equality model, Le
  Feuvre, 1999)
• A feminization process based on the alignment of
  women along the previously existing male career
  model norms and their distancing from domestic
  responsabilities (cf. the  virilitude  equality
  model, Le Feuvre, 1999, close to Frasers (1997)
  universal breadwinner model)

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France / GB comparison (1)

• Both models of occupational feminisation can be
  identified in each of the national contexts under
  comparison.
• However, they are not distributed in exactly the
  same way accross the different occupations and
  have not evolved in the same way over time in
  each of the national contexts.

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France / GB comparison (2)

• France
• Historical entry of women into the professions
  earlier than in GB, thanks to the
   qualifications lever  and the societal
   gender contrat 
• Higher levels of feminisation of professional /
  management occupations throughout the second half
  of the 20th Century than in GB
• Currently, massive increase in the feminization
  of those higher level occupations where
  professional career patterns are predominant
  (eg. medicine)
• Stagnation of feminization rates of those
  occupations where bureaucratic career patterns
  predominate (ex. banking, engineering)

• Britain
• Later start to the feminization process of
  professional / mangerial occupations than in
  France
• Lower levels of feminisation of professional /
  management occupations throughout the second half
  of the 20th Century than in France
• Currently, relatively large increase in the
  feminization of those higher level occupations
  where bureacratic career patterns are
  predominant (eg. banking)
• Stagnation of feminization rates of those
  occupations where family-friendly or positive
  action programmes are least developped, with the
  exception of part-time professional jobs (eg.
  medicine)

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France / GB comparison (3)

• France
• Female careers in the liberal (self-employed)
  professions more frequent, most often
  characterised by the  féminitude  model of
  feminization, where family obligations serve as
  the template for the organisation of professional
  life, even when hours or work are long
• Female careers in the bureaucratic (salaried)
  professions, less frequent, but most often
  characterised by the  virilitude  model of
  feminization, since equal opportunity or
  family friendly policies are scarce and the
  domestic division of labour is more traditional

• Britain
• Female careers in the the bureaucratic
  (salaried) professions more frequent, most often
  characterised by the  féminitude  model of
  feminization (except for women from the pioneer
  generations)
• Female careers in the liberal (self-employed)
  professions, less frequent, but most often
  characterised by the  virilitude  model of
  feminization, with the exception of part-time
  professional careers in some occupations.

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Conclusions (1)

• A similar (quantitative) level of occupational
  feminization does not necessarily have the same
  sociological significance in all societal
  contexts and/or in all occupational groups
• Macro social levels of analysis ( gender
  contrats ) are unable to provide sufficient
  understanding of the issues at stake in the
  occupational feminization process
• Analysis at the meso level ( gender regimes )
  is particularly enlightening when it comes to
  understanding the mecanismes that underpin the
  feminization process in relation to the
  reproduction / transformation of the material and
  symbolic foundations of the sex/gender systems of
  contemporary societies
• Individual experiences of gender also provide a
  useful template for understanding the issues at
  stake gt Reflect a combination of structural and
  contingent circumstances (Perrons at alii,
  2007).

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Conclusions (2)

• The two modes of occupational feminization
  identifed through the cross-national comparison
  dont have exactly the same consequences in terms
  of the reproduction / reconfiguration /
  transformation of the existing sex/gender system.
  However, neither of these models (both
  underpinned by the existing so-called equal
  opportunity policies adopted in each country)
  serve to question the underlying dominant ethos
  of professional occupations, in line with the
  dual-earner/dual carer (Crompton, 1999) or the
  universal caregiver (Fraser, 1997) models,
  which have been identified as a precondition for
  the emergence of true gender equality within
  contemporary European societies.

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The degree of change to the foundations of the
sex/gender system expected from the feminization
of previous male bastions according to the
analytical paradigm
Degree of reproduction  Patriarchy   Féminitude   Virilitude   Gender dynamics 
Gender differentiation mechanism - - -
Gender hierarchy mechanism - - -
Source Based on Le Feuvre, Nicky (1999)  Gender, Occupational Feminisation and Reflexivity  A Cross-National Perspective , In R. Crompton (dir.) The Restructuring of Gender Relations and Employment, Oxford, Oxford University Press  150-178. Source Based on Le Feuvre, Nicky (1999)  Gender, Occupational Feminisation and Reflexivity  A Cross-National Perspective , In R. Crompton (dir.) The Restructuring of Gender Relations and Employment, Oxford, Oxford University Press  150-178. Source Based on Le Feuvre, Nicky (1999)  Gender, Occupational Feminisation and Reflexivity  A Cross-National Perspective , In R. Crompton (dir.) The Restructuring of Gender Relations and Employment, Oxford, Oxford University Press  150-178. Source Based on Le Feuvre, Nicky (1999)  Gender, Occupational Feminisation and Reflexivity  A Cross-National Perspective , In R. Crompton (dir.) The Restructuring of Gender Relations and Employment, Oxford, Oxford University Press  150-178. Source Based on Le Feuvre, Nicky (1999)  Gender, Occupational Feminisation and Reflexivity  A Cross-National Perspective , In R. Crompton (dir.) The Restructuring of Gender Relations and Employment, Oxford, Oxford University Press  150-178.
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Some bibliographical references

• Lapeyre, N., Le Feuvre, N. (2007)  La
  féminisation de la profession médicale une
  condition suffisante de transformation du
  'pouvoir médical' ?  In S. Stoffel (ed.) Femmes
  et Pouvoirs, Bruxelles Université des femmes
  187-208
• Le Feuvre, N. Lapeyre, N. (2005)  Féminisation
  du corps médical et dynamiques professionnelles
  dans le champ de la santé , Revue française des
  affaires sociales 59 (1) 59-81
• Le Feuvre, N. Lapeyre, N. (2005)  Les scripts
  sexués de carrière dans les professions
  juridiques en France , Work, Knowledge Society
  3 101-126
• Lapeyre, N. Le Feuvre, N. (2004) Concilier
  linconciliable? Le rapport des femmes à la
  notion de conciliation travail-famille dans les
  professions libérales en France, Nouvelles
  questions féministes 23 (3) 42-58
• Crompton, R. Le Feuvre, N., (2003) 'Continuity
  and Change in the Gender Segregation of the
  Medical Profession in Britain and France',
  International Journal of Sociology and Social
  Policy 23(4-5) 36-58.
• Crompton, R. Le Feuvre, N. (2000) The
  Realities and Representations of Equal
  Opportunities in Britain and France, European
  Journal of Social Policy, 10 (4) 334-348
• Crompton, R. Le Feuvre, N. (1997)  Choisir une
  carrière, faire carrière les femmes médecins en
  France et en Grande-Bretagne , Les Cahiers du
  Gedisst, n 19 49-75.