Precariousness and public employment in terms of gender. A look at municipal services in Chile

A doctoral thesis that seeks to explain the factors that influence the feminisation of labour precariousness in Chilean municipal employment, from a gender perspective. Research in the sector is scarce and non-existent from this perspective, hence the importance of its inclusion as an approach. Transversally, two theoretical objects are addressed: 1) the objective dimensions of job insecurity and its link with 2) gender segregation in municipal services: administration, health and education.

Through a design that articulates quantitative and qualitative data, it is proposed to demonstrate that, on the one hand, Chilean municipal services have a highly heterogeneous and sexually segregated employment structure, reproducing territorial and labour market inequalities, and that 2) the particularities of job insecurity in municipal employment go beyond the dichotomous view of precarious/non-precarious, usually associated with one of its dimensions: job stability, i.e. the temporary/permanent binomial. The construction of a typology of precarious profiles makes it possible to show the various forms and degrees to which multidimensional precariousness affects the public workforce.