THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN THE COMMONWEALTH PUBLIC SERVICE: THE CREATION AND REPRODUCTION OF A DUAL LABOUR MARKET*

Abstract: This paper examines the history of the employment of women in the Commonwealth Public Service (CPS) and attempts to explain the discrepancy between the meritocratic principles on which the personnel practices of the Service have been based and the lack of attainment of women in the Service. It demonstrates how the perception of men's and women's merits was structured by the division of labour current at the turn of the century when the CPS was established, and how, with the routinization and feminization of clerical work, these perceptions have helped create and ensure the continued reproduction of a dual labour market within the Service which is proving difficult to eradicate despite the removal of formal impediments.