Feminisation of the Swedish bank sector 1910-1939 - what and why?

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to uncover the determining factors behind the feminisation of the Swedish bank sector 1910-1939, through analysis of time-series and the Union periodical Bankvärlden. Economic and institutional explanations are tried, from a structural-analytical and gender perspective. The results show that feminisation was most rapid during the 1910’s, driven by a strong demand for labour from an expanding bank sector. An enabling factor was a change in the character of work through mechanisation and Taylorism, which in combina-tion with an unfavourable real wage development reduced the interest of the male corps to stay in the profession. For women, the sector remained an attractive workplace relative to their alternatives. When banking entered a phase of rationalisation from the 1920’s and the demand for labour waned, employers were motivated to keep and increase their share of fe-male labour on account of its lesser cost.