Feminisation of public administration

FEMINISATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION – refers to the over-representation of women in relation to men employed in public administration. The term also describes the specificity of women’s employment in public administration, which is based on occupational segregation involving the concentration of women around less prestigious and less-paid positions. Occupational segregation of women in public administration occurs in the horizontal and vertical dimensions: the first concerns the concentration of women within the low level of the official staff, while the second – vertical, manifests itself in the difficult promotion of women, in their low participation in decision-making processes and in the management. The reason for the phenomenon of f.p.a. are working conditions that are beneficial for women due to their reproductive function, such as: stability of employment, legally guaranteed protection of the place and working conditions, physical safety, health conditions and the opportunity to claim their rights. Public administration officials are, as shown by the study of the employment structure, a feminised professional group, called pink collars in the literature. This term is used to describe typically female occupations that are less prestigious and less paid than other occupations [ A. Komar ].

Literature: A. Gromkowska-Melosik, Feminizacja zawodu nauczycielskiego – „różowe kołnierzyki” i paradoksy rynku pracy [Feminization of the teaching profession – “pink collars” and paradoxes of the labour market], „Studia Edukacyjne” 2013, no. 25 ■ P. Zwiech, Segregacja zawodowa kobiet w Polsce [Occupational segregation of women in Poland] [in:] Szklany sufit i ruchome schody: kobiety na rynku pracy [Glass ceiling and escalators: women in the labour market], ed. M. Gawrycka, J. Wasilczuk, P. Zwiech, Warszawa 2011.