Women's Opportunities in the Alternative Sector Available to Purchase

The allocation of work based on typical male/female role models cannot be changed speedily, even in the alternative sector. The experience of enterprises in the alternative sector in West Germany, set up with the aims of self‐administration, neutralisation of property, regular change of staff at management level, limitation of size, and equal participation of women in all company functions, reveals that financial difficulties in such enterprises' early stages, and the lack of previous models on which to base themselves, create limitations. Faced with such problems and the need to remain viable, wages are cut and the principle of “best person for the job” prevails; for men and women already trained in traditional roles, this means that an existing skill is more valuable, short‐term, to the enterprise than giving training in a new — and thus the stereotypes are maintained.