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This paper discusses some of the issues that arise from the Employment Contracts Act for women and bargaining. These issues are discussed in the contexts of likely future trends in female labour force participation. The paper addresses the topics under the following general headings: the structural location of women in an increasingly fragmented labour market and the impact of that on women's bargaining power; socialization and perceptions of women's bargaining effectiveness; and the impact of the social policy initiatives of the New Right on women's employment choices.