Do you have time to take a walk together? Private and joint time within the household*

We develop a theoretical model for the intra-household allocation of time and consumption that distinguishes between partners’ joint and private leisure. Estimating the model using time use data leads to five findings. First, the intra-household expenditure distribution correlates with relative wages, consistent with the collective model. Second, men put relatively more weight on private expenditure and composite leisure. Third, joint and private leisure are imperfect substitutes. Fourth, joint and private leisure are independent of the wage distribution, suggesting that togetherness does not substitute for economic factors. Fifth, higher female wages imply higher childcare hours for women, but lower for men.

‘I worked alright, but I never got paid for my labour’

This chapter takes a look at the trajectories of women and labour during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. It does so by exploring the autobiographies of several women, in which they detail their childhoods and eventually their careers and how their attempts at financial autonomy were thwarted in various ways by societal constraints and prejudices. As the chapter argues, low female wages were not merely a passive reflection of a society that devalued women and their work. They also played an active role in keeping women subordinate, by forcing them into a position of dependency on men, first with respect to their fathers, then with respect to their husbands. Making sense of women's lives therefore requires moving into an unfamiliar terrain. Women's experiences were not captured by male wage rates, yet they were deeply bound up with male earnings and male patterns of behaviour.

Dynamics of female labor force participation and welfare with multiple social reference groups

I develop a model with status concerns to analyze how different economic factors affect female labor participation and welfare, as well as average household incomes and wages. Reductions in the price of domestic goods and increases in female wages have positive effects on female participation. Increases in male wages have different effects on female participation depending on whether they affect female wages or not. Events that lead to increases in female participation are usually associated with decreases in the welfare of stay-at-home wives but are not necessarily associated with increases in welfare of working wives. Allowing for part-time work can lead to an increase in overall female labor force participation, but some women that would have worked full-time end up working part-time. If female wages are endogenous, an increase in male wages leads to an increase in the female participation rate even if it is not associated with a decrease in the gender wage gap. The positive feedback of increased female participation on their wages can lead to hysteresis of dual equilibria of high and low female labor force participation and a discontinuous transition between these equilibria.

The Trico-Folberth equal pay strike, Brentford, 1976

The longest equal pay strike in British labour history took place at the Trico-Folberth windscreen wiper factory in Brentford, west London, during the summer of 1976. This chapter will be the first detailed consideration of this strike from an historical perspective. Having discussed the Equal Pay Act’s failure to achieve a meaningful reduction in the differential between male and female wages in Chapter 1, and considered the key role the Ford sewing-machinists played in the origins of equal pay legislation in Chapter 2, this case study examines how the Equal Pay Act was interpreted and challenged by female workers once it was implemented in 1975. The chapter considers the Trico women’s experiences of work and trade unionism. It considers the women’s subjective motivations for going on strike, and examines the extent to which they associated the dispute with a shift in their expectations of paid work, and political identity.

Influences on the gender wage gap of Trinidad and Tobago

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of a gender wage gap in Trinidad and Tobago and its possible influences. Design/methodology/approach – Investigation of the issue utilised data from the 2008/2009 Household Budget Survey. A combination of linear regression and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis permits segregation of wage differences into explained and unexplained. Findings – At the aggregate level, there is a significant difference between male and female wages. Investigation showed that the demographics with the highest levels of discrimination were in the age groups 35-44, income levels $3,000-$5,999 and private sector employment vs public sector. Originality/value – The results of this research can serve as a useful tool for more gender-sensitive employment policies in Trinidad and Tobago, and possibly the wider Caribbean region.