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De facto informality? Rethinking the experience of women in the formally regulated workplace
Heap, Lisa Barnes, Tom Weller, Sally
Heap, Lisa
Barnes, Tom
Weller, Sally
Author
Abstract
This paper argues that characteristics usually associated with informal work, including a lack of protection under the law, diminished voice and agency, are routinely experienced by women in formally regulated workplaces in Australia. Despite a raft of formal legislation to prohibit gender-based discrimination, outlaw gendered violence and promote workplace health and safety, an experience of de facto informality undermines women’s agency to address everyday discrimination and gendered violence at work. This reality is attributed to the patriarchal social norms that dominate in many workplaces, which create challenges for the enforcement of legal regulation and which lead women to tolerate unsatisfactory conditions despite avenues for formal legal protection and compensation. The lens of de facto informality, we argue, highlights the gap between the legislative intent and the lived experience of working women, the limitations of regulation and the need for collective action to address gender inequality and improve women’s capacity to exercise their agency at work.
Keywords
Informal work, gendered violence, agency
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Labour and Industry
Book
Volume
28
Issue
2
Page Range
115-129
Article Number
ACU Department
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Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled