1. Asking ‘the woman question’ of labour law scholarship methodological approaches and ontology in use when women are represented in labour law research
Dr LJB Hayes and Roseanne Russell
Cardiff University School of Law,
New Frontiers in Labour Law Conference,
Cambridge University, April 2014

2. How frequently have women been represented as research subjects in ILJ published material?

3. Frequency of inclusion of women

4. Frequency grid

5. Influence of EU law?

6. Discussion in cases / articles

7. In what contexts are women represented as research subjects ?

8. Four gendered contexts
Relational
Biological
Traditional occupation
Atypical work

9. Contexts by decade

10. Frequency: Relational / Biological
women represented in the context of externally facing notions of gender –

11. Frequency: Atypical / Traditional occupation
Internally facing notions of gender

12. Which methodological approaches are used ?

13. Sub-set: Research which most strongly engages with representations of women and gender

14. Categories Assessing Methodology Doctrinal Law in Context
Primary Empirical

15. Methodological approach

16. When research is strongly engaged with representations of women and gender, how is labour law conceptualised?

17. What is labour law (doing)?
Functional ontologies
Selecting sources
Mediating power
Distributing resources between workers
Embedding gender ..?

18. A fifth category - ambiguous
Either we were unable to discern an ontological perspective
OR (most frequently) there was no clear leaning / a mixed approach

19. Ontological approach

20. Relation to methodology?

21. Conclusion: Asking ‘the woman question’ of labour law scholarship
Frequent inclusion, empirically ‘informed’
Progress: increased consideration, shifting form, post-crisis?
Clustered in gendered contexts of biology, relational roles, atypical work, traditional occupations
Continuity within change: External and Internal contexts
Reliance on other disciplines and gov statistics for data
Clear regard for labour law as a mechanism for embedding gendered relations
Recognised potential to 'disrupt' or unsettle established forms and contents of labour law
Capacity of empirical strategies to further interrogate hierarchies of power in employment relations

22. How much do tools matter?
What knowledge might a distinctive labour law empiricism build?