Time to Smile: Ill-Defined Work Practices of Saleswomen in West German Retail

This article examines the work habits of saleswomen in West Germany's retail and describes the amorphous yet evolving boundaries of working and non-working time. During the 1960s, women employed in retail began to work part-time to combine their domestic duties and a career. In their non-working hours, these women attended to childcare and household duties. This much is known, but this article shows that, in addition, female workers in retail often had to face irregular extensions of their working hours. This enabled companies to reduce the paid time of their employees. Moreover, some employment qualifications associated with women (smiling, engaging in conversation, displaying fine motor skills) were not properly appreciated, much less financially rewarded, but were instead regarded as natural traits and not subject to compensation. All these micro mechanisms led to women being held back from full work life participation, and therefore reinforced gender inequalities in general.