Impact of Labor Flexibility on Female Labor Participation – Illustration from the Experience of Dispatch Mums

• Main Authors: Sheng-Hui Chu, 朱聖惠
• Other Authors: Ming-Ye Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/31359305715253542335

碩士 === 東吳大學 === 社會學系 === 97 === With changes of capitalism mode, the organization of enterprises has gradually employed the trend of flexibility cope with the fast changes of external environment. Within the contextual trend of labor flexibility, dispatch work has already become one of the inevitable modes of labor; for female in role division of their conventional gender, they are used to shoulder mostly the role-play of child-raising, and as such they are, therefore, relatively positioned in somewhat inferior status in the labor. The purpose of this study is to investigate what kind of impact that could have brought about with the rise of dispatch labor, and examine whether dispatch work for women who have children at pre-school or school stage is a good job, from the conventional theory of labor market and feminist perspectives, The data analyzed for the current is collected by qualitative in-depth interviews with a total of 14 mothers who are involved in dispatch work. Three job categories they have engaged in are general affairs, professional affairs, and non-technical labor works. The major findings of this study can be concluded as follows. First, job decision is mostly dependent on family needs for those mothers who have children at pre-school or school stage and are involved in dispatch work. Secondly, labor dispatch for them is a good job in some aspects. Its flexibility allows workers to arrange their family life easier. Job uncertainty and insecurity, however, are the drawbacks of dispatch work. The discourse of what is a good job from dispatch mums have put forth the criteria of judgment that challenges conventional labor market theory for good job is not necessarily equivalent to such typical full-time and all-hour work. It provides “good job” a tentative definition. That is, a good job is supposed to help people achieve a balance between family’s and work’s needs. At the end, this paper has proposed the mindset of flexcurity to be used for policy reform to avoid dispatch work from becoming the kind of “bad job” due to flexploitation. Policy reforms suggested by the current research includes support to intensify social security system for dispatch-job worker, promote labor dispatch law to safeguard the rights of dispatch labor, and strengthen the consolidation rights of dispatch labor.