Gender Segregation in the Hidden Labor Force: Looking at the Relationship between the Formal and Informal Economies

Abstract

By synthesizing case studies on the informal economy throughout the world, I show that women and men specialize in different tasks, work in separate settings, and have differing access to positions of economic power in the informal economy. Moreover, women are more likely than their male counterparts to seek employment in the informal sector. I also explore why gender segregation is such a marked feature of the informal economy by examining characteristics of the informal sector that encourage such gender segregation including the relationship between the informal and formal economies and the social status of informal work.

Citation

Snyder, K.A. (2005), "Gender Segregation in the Hidden Labor Force: Looking at the Relationship between the Formal and Informal Economies", Texler Segal, M. and Demos, V. (Ed.) Gender Realities: Local and Global (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1529-2126(05)09001-6