abstract: 'Perspectives on the informal economy having evolved over time from a

  notion of a separate and disappearing sector to a broader focus that

  takes account of the wide range of economic activities that comprise

  informal work and focuses on processes and on the interdependencies of

  the formal and informal economic spheres. In this article we consider

  contemporary thinking about informal work and ask how useful the concept

  is for understanding changes occurring in work and employment in

  developed as well as developing economies so as to develop interventions

  to generate decent work. We use the lens of informality to explore how

  analysis of work and employment outcomes might give a more central place

  to the political and social location and, in particular, to gender in

  the construction of poor jobs. We propose that the concept of

  informality offered by feminist and other critical approaches is

  suitable for the analysis of much contemporary informalisation in both

  developed and developing economy contexts. We also propose that analysis

  can be strengthened through the adoption of the concept of

  invisibilisation''. We examine some particular types of feminised

  informal work in which there are high levels of vulnerability and

  disadvantage - homework and domestic and care work. We conclude that the

  constructs of informal work and informalisation of work can be used to

  highlight how gendered institutional and social processes construct work

  as beyond the effective reach of regulation.'
affiliation: 'Delaney, A (Corresponding Author), RMIT Univ, Sch Management, Melbourne,
  Vic, Australia.

  Delaney, Annie; Macdonald, Fiona, RMIT Univ, Sch Management, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.'
author: Delaney, Annie and Macdonald, Fiona
author-email: annie.delaney@rmit.edu.au
author_list:
- family: Delaney
  given: Annie
- family: Macdonald
  given: Fiona
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1080/10301763.2018.1475024
eissn: 2325-5676
files: []
issn: 1030-1763
journal: 'LABOUR \& INDUSTRY-A JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF

  WORK'
keywords: Informality; invisibilisation; gender; homework; care work
keywords-plus: GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS; CARE WORKERS; GARMENT HOMEWORK; LABOR
language: English
number: '2'
number-of-cited-references: '56'
orcid-numbers: Delaney, Annie/0000-0002-2473-2316
pages: 99-114
papis_id: a6b67c0309bdc634c0f59e120029383b
ref: Delaney2018thinkinginformality
researcherid-numbers: Delaney, Annie/M-3790-2017
times-cited: '3'
title: 'Thinking about informality: gender (in)equality (in) decent work across geographic
  and economic boundaries'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000443971000002
usage-count-last-180-days: '1'
usage-count-since-2013: '3'
volume: '28'
web-of-science-categories: Industrial Relations \& Labor
year: '2018'