The analysis, over a period of eighteen years, of the professional paths on 108 female workers laid off in the valley of la Bruche, close to Strasbourg, reveals that the majority of them have been destabilized on the long term. The job deficit favors withdrawals from working life. Linked to age and to family situations, these withdrawals are always linked to gender inequalities. However, women remain strongly determined to hold a job anew. The functioning of the female job market, together with family life constraints, tend to maintain laid-off female workers in the same region, whereas male workers migrate daily in great numbers. The mode of access to a new job strongly determines its nature, degree of stability and localization. The help of a relative often leads to stable positions, mostly in the service sector. Laid-off female workers with a weaker social network at their disposal have more difficulties escaping long-term professional instability. This instability often results in harder working conditions.