Sociological Aspects of Temporary Workers,

Sociological Aspects of Temporary Workers, Flexible Labor Force as Specifically Related to Female Poverty

The question posed in this research is one, which questions whether temporary and flexible jobs related in any manner to female poverty?

This research will be conducted through an extensive review of literature and will approach the research in view of the 'Inter-actionist Theory'.

The purpose of the present study is to construct a preliminary view of home-schooled children's social skills while contrasting this view with recent research on this topic toward attempting to gather findings from these recent studies about new forms of employment and the female labor force.

INTRODUCTION simple online search of Google, the Internet's largest search engine provides a plethora of results, which shows a link between 'female poverty' and 'temporary employment'. Addressed are variously methods of study in attempting to understand how findings could be utilized in order to alleviate negative affects on the female gender caused by issues related to temporary employment in today's labor and workforces.

REVIEW of the LITERATURE

The work of Lictenwalter (2005) entitled: "Gender Poverty Disparity in U.S. Cities: Evidence Exonerating Female-Headed Families" states that in a study that made examination of the affects of family composition, education, and labor force factors as related to female and male poverty rate differentials in the United States' largest seventy cities. In a "stepwise regression analysis" indications show that "41% of the difference between female and male poverty rates can be explained by the percent of women in the three U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic's lowest wage occupations." The work of Benjamin (2006) entitled; "The Shaping of Opportunity Structures: A Work History Perspective on Israeli Working Women" present at the annual meeting of the American Association, Montreal Convention Center in Montreal and Quebec. States that research conducted "on the working poor suggests that the role of non-standard employment in generating poverty of female workers is not always clear. The effect of non-standard employment can be balanced by other sources of income brought home by other members of the household. Poverty, it is argued on the other hand, can be related to standard employment under the conditions of family health, debts or addiction related crises. Thus the exact contribution of non-standard employment to workers' poverty is yet unclear. Our results of a work history analysis suggest that for poor female workers in Israel, non-standard employment converges with an emotional process in ways that narrow down opportunity structures. The work histories taught us that the boundaries between standard and non-standard employment can only be crossed in one direction and that this possibility is a source of intimidation, which women struggle to avoid. However, once employed in a non-standard area of the labor market, women with families were unable to go back into standard employment. Non-standard employment turned into a significant turning point which, by generating negative emotions, narrowed down opportunity structures. Our findings are based on qualitative work history analysis conducted upon materials elicited in semi-structured interviews with 12 women." (2006) Benjamin's statements provide clarity in understanding that the very framework of the structure of opportunity for employment and then the added factor of employability as relating to standard and non-standard employment - such as temporary and flexible labor forces - works toward negatively affecting the resulting income earnings potential of those affected and in this case the females within the workforce.

The work of Stoparic entitled; "Women's Paid Labor Keeps Door Open to Poverty" relates that a report of the UN notes that since women in most societies are under expectations of being able to "combine paid employment with unpaid caretaking of family members, they frequently take flexible, low-paying jobs, often in the informal sector. Women's unpaid work in the home often channels them into insecure and frequently unregulated occupations such as domestic work, childcare and garment manufacturing work. As a result, women face a greater risk of poverty than men despite participating in the workforce." (Stoparic, 2005) Stoparic additionally relates that women in the developed world "dominate part-time or temporary jobs..." while more than sixty percent of women in the developing world represent those employed in domestic work, street trading and other low paying jobs lacking in "security, benefits, and legal protections..." (2005) Within the informal sector of employment there exists a hierarchy and Stoparic states that employers running small informal enterprises "women are disproportionately represented in the lowest-paying categories, and even within those subcategories they earn less than men, further increasing their risk of poverty.

The work of Heyzer entitled: "When Work Just Traps People in Poverty" published in the Herald Tribune states that: "Rural women spend backbreaking hours on family plots often for no payment at all. Those in urban areas work in unregulated factories, earning pennies for products shipped to markets far away." (Heyzer, 2005) Furthermore, "In virtually all countries, women still bear the primary responsibility for taking care of children, the ill and the elderly, limiting their ability to obtain the education and experience required for better-paying jobs." (Heyzer, 2005) Four Millennium Development Goals stated in 2005 included: (1) organizing informal workers in obtaining legal and social protection; (2) help the self-employed improve their access to credit and financial markets and to mobilize demand for their products and services; (3) creation of appropriate polices to support informal workers; (4) strengthen strategies to end gender inequality. (Heyzer, 2005)