Women Work And Families

Women, Work and Family is a classic of women's history and is still the only text on the history of women's work in England and France, providing an excellent introduction to the changing status of women from 1750 to the present.

This examination of the extraordinary juggling skills of working women who balance obligations to work & family goes beyond description of possible conflicts of interest to seek an understanding of the decision-making process through which they accomplish this balancing.

First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

At the time Women’s Work and Chicano Families: Cannery Workers of the Santa Clara Valley was published, little research had been done on the relationship between the wage labor and household labor of Mexican American women. Drawing on revisionist social theories relating to Chicano family structure as well as on feminist theory, Patricia Zavella paints a compelling picture of the Chicano women who worked in northern California’s fruit and vegetable canneries. Her book combines social history, shop floor ethnography, and in-depth interviews to explore the links between Chicano family life and gender inequality in the labor market.

In the contentious debate about women and work, conventional wisdom holds that middle-class women can decide if they work, while working-class women need to work. Yet, even after the recent economic crisis, middle-class women are more likely to work than working-class women. Sarah Damaske deflates the myth that financial needs dictate if women work, revealing that financial resources make it easier for women to remain at work and not easier to leave it. Departing from mainstream research, Damaske finds three main employment patterns: steady, pulled back, and interrupted. She discovers that middle-class women are more likely to remain steadily at work and working-class women more likely to experience multiple bouts of unemployment. She argues that the public debate is wrongly centered on need because women respond to pressure to be selfless mothers and emphasize family need as the reason for their work choices. Whether the decision is to stay home or go to work, women from all classes say work decisions are made for their families. In For the Family?, Sarah Damaske at last provides a far more nuanced and richer picture of women, work, and class than the one commonly drawn.

In this book, the author builds on decades of complex research to examine the gender pay gap and the unequal distribution of labor between couples in the home. The author argues that although public and private discourse has brought these concerns to light, the actions taken - such as a single company slapped on the wrist or a few progressive leaders going on paternity leave - are the economic equivalent of tossing a band-aid to someone with cancer. These solutions, the author writes, treat the symptoms and not the disease of gender inequality in the workplace and economy. Here, the author points to data that reveals how the pay gap widens further down the line in women's careers, about 10 to 15 years out, as opposed to those beginning careers after college. She examines five distinct groups of women over the course of the twentieth century: cohorts of women who differ in terms of career, job, marriage, and children, in approximated years of graduation - 1900s, 1920s, 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s - based on various demographic, labor force, and occupational outcomes. The book argues that our entire economy is trapped in an old way of doing business; work structures have not adapted as more women enter the workforce. Gender equality in pay and equity in home and childcare labor are flip sides of the same issue, and the author frames both in the context of a serious empirical exploration that has not yet been put in a long-run historical context. This book offers a deep look into census data, rich information about individual college graduates over their lifetimes, and various records and sources of material to offer a new model to restructure the home and school systems that contribute to the gender pay gap and the quest for both family and career. --

Many working women have to face a serious conflict between the demands of their work and the demands of family life. Changing perceptions about the role of women are making this conflict even more complicated. Innovative work patterns are needed to alleviate this conflict. Originally published in 1986, this book, based on extensive original research, examines how working women manage the ‘balancing act’ between family and work. It considers their attitudes to work, to their families and to their managers and fellow workers and it explores the role of trade unions, employers and the state. By drawing on data gathered in different countries and in different ‘styles’ of working environment it contrasts differing responses to the same basic conflict.

Frontmatter --Contents --Preface --CHAPTER 1. Women's Work and Family Patterns: Constraints and Options --CHAPTER 2. Juggling the Load: Employed Mothers Who Work Full-Time for Pay /Mandell, Nancy --CHAPTER 3. The Traditional Path: Full-Time Housewives /Doris Duffy, Ann --CHAPTER 4. Balancing Responsibilities: The Part-Time Option /Pupo, Norene --CHAPTER 5. Differing Solutions: Similar Struggles --Bibliography.