Women and Men at Work: Gender, Inequality and Jobs

Abstract

Chris¹ is 30 and works in the computerized stock control department at Pillco. Her father was a factory worker and her mother she described as a housewife who did ‘bits of cleaning’. She left school at 18, having previously worked part-time at Woolworths and in a record store. After several months’ unemployment she succeeded in getting a job on the line at Pillco and has worked there ever since, recently moving to her new job in the warehouse, which she likes: ‘I’m much happier with it because, a, I’m working by myself which I enjoy and, b, it’s more interesting. I have to think about what I’m doing. I’m more mentally stimulated.’ The warehouse was at that time a male domain and Chris had to fight the men to get accepted: ‘I’ve shouted them down. I had to put up with them saying darling all the time at first.’