European Policies Promoting More Flexible Labour Forces

The European Union’s recommendations for employment policies clearly illustrate this phenomenon. Since its 1994 White Paper, everything on the European labour markets is supposed to be flexible, including workers, their training, their schedules, the number of hours worked, their wages and the production systems on which they work. Lower social welfare contributions should encourage the development of flexible forms of employment: “The promotion of more flexible working arrangements could be backed up by reductions in the statutory charges currently imposed on such arrangements”. A look at European statistics on flexible forms of employment unambiguously shows that flexible work is gendered. Women stand out as the main victims of policies endorsing flexibility. The lack of gender equality is particularly flagrant here, with men pursuing full-time employment and women having part-time work with lower pay, meagre opportunities for promotion, flexible working hours and reduced social protection.