Empleo flexible y relaciones de género en Portugal: ambivalencias y perplejidades

The main purpose of this article is to point out the ambiguous effects of employment flexibility on gender relations, in particular in Portugal. Portuguese women participate massively (and intensively) in the labour market and are better educated than their male counterparts; however, they are over-represented in precarious jobs and in involuntary part-time work, as well as in those occupations located in the peripheral/secondary segment of the labour market, which is characterised by low pay, job insecurity and poor career prospects. The main argument is that, on the one hand, employment flexibility can offer some opportunities, enabling women to participate more actively in the labour market and, in this way, gain greater economic independence; however, on the other hand, it reinforces their condition of subordination and economic dependence and, as a result, may jeopardise their achievement of full citizenship.