Background to the Research

• Where research on employment has taken place in Northern Ireland, its tendency to date has been to focus either in religion or on gender. This chapter attempts to address the imbalance by highlighting differences as well as similarities between Catholic and Protestant women, and also provides information on married or cohabiting working age men and women in Northern Ireland. The material from which the chapter is drawn was gathered as part of a project funded by the EOC (NI) entitled 'Women and the World of Work in Northern Ireland' and carried out by the Monica McWilliams with Rona Campbell and Mike Morrissey.

Research Approach

• Data are in the main derived from secondary analyses carried out on data sets from three major surveys which took place in Northern Ireland in 1985-86. These were the CHS, which included a survey of 1,55e couples; the NIHE's surveys (both Regional and Belfast) with a total sample of 14,256 married couples; and the LFS covering 1,918 couples.
• The analysis distinguished between four household arrangements based on the nature of the division of (paid) labour. First, where both partners are working; the second where neither partner is working; third, where only the male partner is working; and finally where only the female partner is employed. For the sake of brevity, couples are referred to as dual earners, both unemployed, male breadwinner and female breadwinner.

Main Findings

• The division of labour most common amongst households as reported in all three surveys is the dual earner couple. This is followed by the male breadwinner, with unemployed couples and the female breadwinner being less prevalent. The stereotypical view of families in Northern Ireland as 'man in the labour market and woman in the home' is therefore receding.
• Female breadwinner couples account for between three and five per cent only and the likelihood that both partners will be unemployed is much greater than the likelihood that the woman will be the breadwinner.
• Data from the three surveys on part-time and full-time work show that men are employed full-time, while their female partners are nearly equally likely to be in full or part-time employment.
• Half of all married women still record themselves as keeping house, or retired, even though they are under 60 year of age.
• The percentage of unemployed couples is higher amongst Catholics whilst dual earners are more likely amongst Protestants, particularly where the second earner works part time.
• Among economically active women, tables from the CHS show a rather smaller proportion of Catholic women (30%) work part-time compared with 34% of Protestant women.
• The proportion of Catholic families in receipt of Supplementary Benefit rose significantly from 1983 to 1987 (from 32 to 37 per cent), whilst the proportion of Protestant families in this situation remained virtually the same (increasing by only 1%).
• The data confirms that there is a definite association between the employment status of a couple and the number of dependents in the home. Those households in which both partners are in paid employment have the lowest number of children under 16.
• Nearly two-thirds of dual earner and female breadwinner couples have none or only one dependent child, whereas this is the case in only 47% and 35% of male breadwinner and unemployed couples respectively.
• Women with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 have similarly low employment rates (28%) in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain. But women with a youngest child of school age are less likely to be in employment in Northern Ireland than Great Britain. Activity rates between the countries begin to converge again after the youngest child reaches 16.
• The data available lends a little support to the suggestion that there is an increasing tendency for for husbands and wives to have occupations of a similar status.
• Despite increases in service sector employment, more women have become unemployed in the 1980s. In 1985, 50% of all female employees worked in the social services, in health and education. By 1989 however, 2,746 women had lost their jobs in this sector.
• For the future, segregation in the labour market is likely to continue, particularly if part-time employment increases. Twenty three per cent of all employees at present are part time - the majority of whom are female (75%).