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pation worldwide has given rise to the notion ofthe ‘feminisation of the labour force’. But thisnotion has been defined and used in two distinctways. First, to refer to the situation in which theratio of women’s labour force participation rate tomen’s labour force participation rate increases overtime. Second, to refer to a situation in which thestructure of the labour force itself is ‘feminised’:that is, when jobs take on features associated withwomen’s work such as low pay, drudgery, uncertainty,and precariousness. 28Whether or not there is a causal link between theincrease in women’s labour force participationand the growing precariousness or informality ofwork is not clear — and has been hotly debated.The pervasive segmentation of labour marketsby gender, which we discussed above, suggeststhat women’s labour did not simply substitute formen’s labour. Rather, that there has been someparallel process at work creating low-paid andpoor quality informal employment opportunitiesfor (primarily) women. 29Estimates of changes over time in the degree ofinformalisation within the female and male labourforce are not available. However, we have seenabove that growth in certain forms of informalemployment — notably, sub-contracted worklinked to the global production system — expandsduring periods of economic growth, especiallywhen growth is driven by trade and financialliberalisation. What is important to note hereis that women workers tend to be overrepresentedin global production systems, at least in the earlystages of trade liberalisation when a premium isplaced on export-oriented light manufacturingand low-skilled (and low-paid) workers. 30Informal Employment in Developing CountriesInformal employment is generally a larger sourceof employment for women than for men in thedeveloping world. Other than in the Middle Eastand North Africa, where 42 percent of womenworkers (and 48 percent of male workers) arein informal employment, 60 percent or more ofwomen non-agricultural workers in the developingworld are informally employed. Among non-agriculturalworkers, in sub-Saharan Africa, 84 percentof women workers are informally employedcompared to 63 percent of male workers; in LatinAmerica, 58 percent of women workers comparedto 48 percent of men; and in Asia, 73 percent ofwomen workers compared to 70 percent of maleworkers.Non-Standard Employment in DevelopedCountriesIn virtually all EU and OECD countries, the incidenceof part-time work is much higher amongwomen than men: in some countries it is twice ashigh. By 1998, women represented 82 percentof all part-time workers in EU countries. Further,rates of part-time work are high for women, butnot men, in their prime working years.Temporary employment, like part-time work,is primarily a female phenomenon, althoughthere is wide variation among EU countries. Inall countries except Austria, the incidence oftemporary employment among females is higherthan among all workers. And, like part-time work,temporary employment is concentrated in the service-producingindustries. Interestingly, womenaccount for the majority of agency temps incountries where such employment concentratesin services, while men account for the majority ofagency temps in countries where such employmentconcentrates in manufacturing and construction.Effectively, ‘the gender composition ofemployment mirrors that of the sectors in whichtemporary agency assignments take place.’ 31In 1997, women comprised one in three of144