Female professionals’ working hours

The aim of this paper is to examine female professionals’ working hours, particularly the tendency to work reduced hours. Earlier research indicates a considerable variation in female professionals’ working hours (Hoel 1995, Ellingsæther 1995, Burchell et al. 1997, Raaum 2001, Gjerberg 2003, Abrahamsen 2002a, Abrahamsen and Storvik 2003). While female physicians usually work long hours (Gjerberg 2003, Abrahamsen 2002a), female teachers mainly work fulltime (Hoel 1995), a significant proportion of nurses work part-time (Abrahamsen 2002a, 2003, Olsen 2002). The question raised in this paper is why women’s part-time ratio is significantly higher in some professions (like nursing) than in other professions, even if we only compare female dominated professions