78 Gender Matters the phone.” After conducting research in 13 call centers in three European countries – Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK – the study concluded that “feminine” social skills do play a central role in call center work, and that as a consequence, women are deemed to be particularly suited to it. At the same time, however, the study showed that: At the same time, however, we have shown that women are also recruited to call centre work because they are perceived to be more capable of dealing with the monotony of the work and the regimented work environment. The highly standardized and controlled nature of work and organisation used in call centres constrains the extent to which women’s social skills can be used and further enhanced. Further, women are also most heavily concentrated in those areas of call centre work, particularly in customer service roles, that attract the lowest financial rewards (Belt et al. 2002, 32). It appears that gendered assumptions about the abilities of women as compared to men come into play in their suitability as call center employees, and these gendered assumptions or stereotypes work in two different ways: as skilled workers who possess communication skills (bubbly or lively personalities, natural ability to talk or to build rapport with customers, caring attitude, ability to carry out emotional labor) and people skills (sociability, ability to motivate people), on the one hand, and as workers suited to the repetitive, monotonous, and highly pressurized work that characterizes call centers, on the other hand. The gendered assumptions in the abilities of women are also echoed in Sibal et. al’s 2006 study about globalization and changes in work conditions in the Philippines. Observing that there is a slight gender segmentation in the call center company, the authors remarked: As a service oriented company whose main function is to communicate with clients, women are more effective. The