Summaries
Does combination of work and children affect physical and mental health?
A. Guérin, P. de Heus en R. Diekstra
There is a growing number of women in the Netherlands who remain in the labour force af ter the birth of a child. Does this combination of work and children affect physical and men tal health ? By means of a questionnaire among 5.055 working women, the question is addres sed if women with and without children differ in total number of working hours, and in phy sical and mental health. Although it is found that working mothers make longer working weeks than women without children, they suf fer less from physical complaints, emotional exhaustion, and depression. These health dif ferences between working women with and without children are most pronounced at the lower educational levels, but are almost com pletely absent in the highest educational group. Results are discussed in regard to the question if care for children is advantageous for health, or alternatively, if predominantly healthy wo men remain in the labour force after birth of a child.
The wage-gap between male and female mana gers
G. Kraaykamp en M. Kalmijn
In the last few decades, women have been in creasingly successful in occupying higher posi tions of the labor market. This raises the ques tion of whether men and women are paid differently in higher occupations. To answer this question, this study compares hourly wa ges between male and female managers, and examines how differences in pay between men and women can be explained. The analyses in dicate that female managers earn f 26 on ave rage, which is f 13 less than what male mana
gers earn. The wage-gap among managers is larger than the wage-gap in the labor force at large, in both absolute and relative terms. To explain these differences, this study examines three hypotheses: differences between men and women with respect to human capital, dif ferences in occupational characteristics, and differences in the labor market sectors in which male and female managers are working. A regression decomposition shows that toge ther, these factors explain about 34% of the wage-gap between male and female managers. Of all factors that contribute to this explana tion, differences between men and women in labor market experience appear most impor tant.
Women with technical careers
Ch.J. de Wolff
In this article a characterization is given of the labour market careers of women with a technical degree at an intermediate level (MTS). On the basis of results from a longitudi nal research project presented here, it is argued that the start of their careers is relatively free of problems. During the first five years at the labourmarket hardly anyone drops out. The women tend to work in different technical jobs than men. No evidence exists that their ca reers are less successful. However, it is expec ted that in the long run their careers will be endangered by lack of possibilities to work parttime in order to combine child care with labour.
Summaries
Upgrading female-dominated occupations. As sessing three strategies by which secretaries can improve their status position.
K.G. Tijdens en C. Baaijens
The focus of this paper is the process of profes sionalisation in the secretarial occupation du ring the last fifteen years. Based upon the soci ology of professions three strategies were studied in detail, i.e. boundary creation and boundary maintenance,- controlling routes of access to resources as skills and knowledge; organizing the professionals. This study is ba sed upon a review of empirical research con ducted earlier. The study reveals that the occu pational group has been rather successful in defining occupational profiles, but that there is no full agreement about the upper and lower boundary of the occupational group. The occu pational group does not control the educatio nal routes of access. Qualification levels have not been defined clearly until very recently and are mainly initiated by the state. The oc cupational group is partly organized in profes sional associations, partly in trade unions,- le vels of organisation are low, though improving. The low levels of organisation are probably the main handicap for improving the secretary's status position.
Power and influence tactics in change proces ses: Differences between groups in power use
J.J. Boonstra en K.M. Bennebroek Gravenhorst
A field study on the influence behavior in fun damental change processes was conducted to learn more about the use of nine influence tac
tics by line managers, staff specialists, works council delegates and management consul tants. In addition, we studied the relationship between use of influence tactics and three con tingent variables: type of organization, expe rience in the present position and sex of the in fluence agent. Data were collected with a Dutch version of Yukl's Influence Behavior Questionnaire. Fourteen middle sized organi zations participated in the study and 486 ques tionnaires were returned. Rational persuasion, consultation, and inspirational appeals were the most frequently used influence tactics. Se veral differences between groups were found and the use of influence tactics appears to be related to the contingent variables. After a dis cussion of the results, we indicate how future research could go deeper into the subject. Fitting Measurement. On definitions and opera tionalizations of overeducation
S.M. Groeneveld
In research on 'overeducation' various definiti ons and operationalizations of this concept are applied. In this article the question is answe red in how far various measurements give the same results and therefore may be combined in longitudinal analyses. To answer this ques tion various measurements of 'overeducation' are applied to one dataset. The analysis shows that results vary according to the measure ment. Longitudinal analyses in which various measurements are combined should be interpreted carefully.
