ADVANCES AND CONTINUITIES FOR WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF WORK (2004-2014)

Abstract

Some aspects of female labor stay surprisingly similar over time, such as the great proportion active age women absent from the job market, the great number women who are busy, yet unpaid, the predominance among the unemployed, the great volume of hours dedicated to house chores and the significant concentration in sectors and occupations with gender stereotypes. In spite of a particularly favorable decade to women and men from the perspective of labor and income, some attributes associated to women persist and follow their insertion in the job market since the beginnings, even though advances can be noted over time, which, however do not alter significantly the place of women on the sexual division of labor. Despite a greater participation in the remunerated labor and superior schooling to men, labor conditions and unfavorable gaps in medium income persist indicating the gender bias in the way the genders are distributed in diverse occupations and economic sectors. Insertion of women in the occupational structure in the past decades showed little change, being concentrated in activities linked to education, health, social services and paid domestic labor, reasserting the sexual division of labor even in times of greater equality and social inclusion.