Gender and labour market flexibility: the case of working hours

The central issue of this paper is the relationship between gender and collective bargaining over working hours. First of all, studies and theories on gender and industrial relations will be briefly summarized. Second, the advantages of reducing working hours or promoting part-time work have been studied from the female workers' perspective, from the male workers' perspective, from the unions' perspective and from the employers' perspective. The conclusion will contain a review of the outcomes of the bargaining processes during this period. The gender-related contradictions between these two issues appear to be very clear. Over a period of fifteen years, bargaining demands and outcomes have been examined both for the Netherlands and for the conflicting interests of male and female workers concerning a reduction of the working week.