Europe, women, and work: is the "adult worker" ideal achieved?

Against the background of an overall increase in female labor force participation in Europe, this article presents a comparative analysis of the development of the extent and quality of women's participation in market work over the last 15 years in relation to selected sectoral and, with regard to the service sector, subsectoral sites in which women perform their market work. This is an explorative test of the utility of the theoretical perspective that focuses on the gendered division of total necessary work in society, production as well as reproduction, in order to explain gender inequality. Countries examined are the "old E.U." member states in various constellations. Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Labor Organization, European Social Survey, and Luxembourg Income Study are used.