"Housewives as Wage-earners and the Part-time Job Problem: An Analysis of the Activities of the Association for Thinking about Women's Liberation from the Standpoint of Housewives and the Liaison Meeting of Part-time Workers and Unorganized Labor"
MURAKAMI Kiyoshi
last update: 20151225
Housewives as Wage-earners and the Part-time Job Problem: An Analysis of the Activities of the Association for Thinking about Women's Liberation from the Standpoint of Housewives and the Liaison Meeting of Part-time Workers and Unorganized Labor
MURAKAMI Kiyoshi
Abstract:
This study investigates early attempts of housewives working part-time to organize advocacy groups pushing
for an ideal form of irregular employment. In particular, the author points out the groups' practical orientation
and the evolution of their activities.
Most studies of working women conclude that the increase in part-time jobs as a form of labor among women
is the result of the attitude of housewives to place family first. Little attention, however, has been given to the
efforts of housewives to address other systemic factors related to the rise of part-time work.
In this article, I focus on the Association for Thinking about Women's Liberation from the Standpoint of
Housewives and the Liaison Meeting of Part-time Workers and Unorganized Labor, which were citizen groups
active from the late 1970s to the 1990s.
The two groups argued that the labor difficulties faced by housewife part-time workers did not stem from
their attitude towards work but from the tax system and workplace prejudice. They also demanded that the
government create a labor environment in which housewife part-time workers are respected as full-fledged
members of the workforce. These actions foreshadowed recent labor activities pushing for the rights of irregular
employees.
Keywords: housewives, part-time worker, unorganized labor, underemployment, discrimination against women
REV: 20151225