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Examining women's diverse experiences of male-dominated work, this ground-breaking book explores what sexuality and gender means to women working in the construction and transport industries. Using accounts from heterosexual women and lesbians working in professional, manual and operational roles, Gender and Sexuality in Male-Dominated Occupations adopts an intersectional approach to examine advantage and disadvantage on the basis of gender, sexuality and occupational class in these sectors. Drawing on interviews and focus groups, the author examines why women choose to enter male-dominated industries, their experiences of workplace relations, their use of women's support networks and trade unions, and the interface between home and work lives. Presenting international and UK-based examples of effective interventions to increase women's participation in male-dominated work, this important book highlights the need for political will to tackle women's underrepresentation, and suggests directions for the future

"Examining women's diverse experiences of male-dominated work, this ground-breaking book explores what sexuality and gender means to women working in the construction and transport industries. Using accounts from heterosexual women and lesbians working in professional, manual and operational roles, Gender and Sexuality in Male-Dominated Occupations adopts an intersectional approach to examine advantage and disadvantage on the basis of gender, sexuality and occupational class in these sectors. Drawing on interviews and focus groups, the author examines why women choose to enter male-dominated industries, their experiences of workplace relations, their use of women's support networks and trade unions, and the interface between home and work lives. Presenting international and UK-based examples of effective interventions to increase women's participation in male-dominated work, this important book highlights the need for political will to tackle women's underrepresentation, and suggests directions for the future"--Provided by publisher

The UK construction and transport sectors remain the most heavily male-dominated industries, showing minimal progress in women's participation. Long and inflexible working hours presume a male model of the worker unconstrained by caring responsibilities. Yet the experiences of the minority of women who work in these sectors are of interest to those concerned with reducing occupational gender segregation. Sexuality is often overlooked in differentiating women's experience of male-dominated work, and gender conflated with heterosexuality. Through examining the interaction of domestic circumstances and work arrangements of heterosexual women and lesbians, this article finds that atypical domestic circumstances may be required to support male-dominated work. Heterosexual 'breadwinner' norms were challenged by women's capacity for higher earnings from male-dominated work, but often required strategies to manage associated emotions. Evidence from lesbian relationships indicates a possible shift from prioritization of financial self-sufficiency in the context of legal status for same-sex partnerships.

Labour market segregation continues to be a major barrier to gender equality, with the construction industry an example of a particularly male-dominated sector. Drawing on evidence from the Women into Construction project, established to increase women's opportunities to work on the construction of London's Olympic Park, the article argues that public procurement is a potentially powerful tool for breaking down gender segregation. This is particularly effective when new forms of responsive and reflexive legislation require private sector contractors to achieve social objectives. The authors argue that this could be made more effective through greater powers of engagement for stakeholders, including trade unions.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider whether lesbians may experience an "advantage" in non‐traditionally female work compared to heterosexual women, but argues for an intersectional approach to understanding the relationship between gender, sexuality and class in male‐dominated work.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses semi‐structured interviews with women working transport and construction, focusing here on an analysis of 13 interviews with lesbian workers, eight working in transport and five in construction, representing both professional/managerial and skilled manual occupations.FindingsThe paper considers the question of whether lesbians may experience an "advantage" in non‐traditionally female work compared to heterosexual women, but finds that their experience is complicated by other factors such as ethnicity, class and organisational culture. Organisational response and practice in relation to sexual orientation is found to be equally significant in shaping the realities of working lives for lesbians in traditionally male work.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings in this paper are based on an analysis of interviews with lesbians drawn from a larger research project examining the experience of both heterosexual and lesbian women working in the transport and construction sectors.Originality/valueThe paper addresses a gap in the literature on lesbian experience in non‐traditionally female work and aims to contribute to knowledge of the diversity of lesbian experience through examining the working lives of lesbians in both professional and skilled manual roles.

The opening up of the European Union has encouraged a shutting down of borders to third-country nationals and in almost every Member State measures have been put in place to restrict such immigration. The consequences, as this article demonstrates, will be first to drive more people into undocumented status, with an accompanying worsening of employment rights and secondly, to racialise migration, through entry rights being denied primarily to those from the developing South. The UK is introducing a points-based system that limits entry from outside the EU to the highly skilled, and the government is at the same time targeting 'illegal working'. Based on recent interviews, this article demonstrates the immediate and negative impact of some of these measures on migrants already working in the UK.