Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The overall objective was to establish the place of employment in women's lives. It aimed to establish both the extent of current unemployment among women and to understand what unemployment meant for women. It needed therefore to compare unemployed women both with those women who were employed and those who were economically inactive; it also needed to establish how important a paid job was for women and how much of their lives they spent in employment. Main Topics:Variables Women's Questionnaire (a) Patterns of movement in and out of the labour market Whether women were working full-time, part-time or not working at different stages in their lives and at different points in time. (b) Factors affecting participation in the labour market Economic, social and psychological factors affecting decisions about whether or not to work. Reasons for working/not working. (c) Recent and current employment activities Description of type of work, conditions (pay, hours etc.) job satisfaction. Mobility between employers and type of work over the last five years. (d) The consequences of not working and the process of job search Attitudes to and consequences of not working. Investigation of different categories of 'not working', from 'registered unemployed' to 'not intending to work'. Economic, social and psychological consequences of not working for women wanting to work. How women look or intend to look for work. The reasons women give up seeking work. (e) Factors affecting decisions about whether to work Constraints of child care and other domestic responsibilities. Division of labour between husbands and wives. Attitude of husbands to wife working. Family financial situation. Availability of suitable work in terms of type of work, hours, pay, travel to work. Which factors would cause women to want to change their present situation (i.e. re working full-time, part-time, or not working). (f) Careers and...