Women occupy less fulfilling jobs than men

Source: Amira (2010), Table A2

Therefore, the main differences found between the sexes in the COI study are because men and women tend to occupy different jobs. These differences are explored below.

Work definition

Most employees (80%) participating in the COI survey received instructions or had to follow procedures in their work. Nevertheless, women’s work appeared less clearly defined by rules and procedures (78% of women compared with 82% of men). For example, 59% of female workers ‘had to follow strict procedures’ compared with 70% of male workers, and 58% of female workers ‘must reach precise objectives’ whereas this was the case for 64% of male workers.

Autonomy and support at work

Surprisingly, it seems that the fact that women’s work is less defined by rules and procedures does not imply more autonomy. When a woman’s supervisor or manager tells them what to do, this person is more likely to tell them how to do it (applicable to 27% of women in the survey and 18% of men). Women also more often had no choice about when to take a break (21% of women compared with 17% of men). In addition, women who had faced technical difficulties at work reported being less often able to solve the problem themselves (37% of women compared with 54% of men).

Management

In France, the title of ‘manager’ does not automatically imply the management of other workers and, indeed, only 62% of male managers and 49% of female managers are actually responsible for the work of others. The data show that not only do fewer women have the title of manager, but when they are in charge of colleagues, they tend to supervise fewer people than their male counterparts.

Working hours and workloads

According to the COI data, men’s working hours seem to be longer, stricter and less foreseeable. Only 17% of the men surveyed could choose their working hours whereas 27% of the women could do so. Men also tended to work evenings and nights more than women. However, women tended to occupy jobs that allowed them to cope better with their family responsibilities. The data from the COI study do not allow analysis of whether women’s working conditions are adapted to their family situations or if women choose such jobs.

Although the working schedule of female participants in the study was less constraining, they reported being overloaded at work more often than the male participants. The pressure felt by women seemed to be related to their family situation; this did not seem to be the case for men (see figure below).

Feeling of being overloaded at work at least once a week (%)

Source: Amira (2010), Figure 1

Job satisfaction

Possibly related to the fact that women’s work seems to be less autonomous than men’s, female participants in the COI study reported being less fulfilled by their job. They also more often had doubts as to whether their work was useful. Last but not least, they were less satisfied with their pay and professional recognition (Table 3).

Table 3: Pay and recognition by gender (%)

	Women	Men	Total
Your work is useful to others	88.1	92.9	91.3
Your work is fairly recognised	37.9	46.7	43.7
For full-time workers: Given the work you do, you are paid …
Well or very well	13.5	15.6	14.8
Correctly	46.0	53.2	50.8
Badly or very badly	40.5	31.2	34.4

Source: Amira (2010), Table 9

Commentary

The COI study found significant differences between men and women that might be related to differences in employment; sectors, occupations and positions vary greatly by gender. However, it seems that less autonomy, fewer responsibilities and less money are good reasons why women would be less fulfilled by their jobs.

Reference

Amira, S. (2010), Les femmes occupent des emplois où le travail semble moins épanouissant (160Kb PDF), Dares Analyses, December 2010, No. 082.

Sarah Mongourdin-Denoix, HERA