Global Perspectives on Gender and Work: Readings and Interpretations

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Central to all our lives, work affects our status in the state, the family, and the economy. This comprehensive reader examines the myriad ways in which workwhether it is well-paid, unpaid, or underpaidprofoundly influences our roles in both the public and private spheres. Jacqueline Goodman has selected a key set of essays that examine influential arguments on such central themes as (1) the origins of the gendered division of labor; (2) historical trends and economic transformations that affect and are affected by women's position in market and non-market work; (3) the effects of occupational and job segregation by sex on status, pay, and promotion; (4) the ways in which formal and informal organizational culture shape and in turn are shaped by gender in professional and managerial positions; (5) class consciousness among wage-earning men and women; (6) the different forms of gender discrimination that women and men face in the workplace; (7) the problems working parents face and the ways in which different societies, subcultures, and genders cope; and (8) alternative approaches to improving the lives of working women and their families in the global economy. With its rich interdisciplinary perspective, this text is ideal for courses in sociology, political science, anthropology, and women's and gender studies.

Contributions by: Amel Adib, Kevin Bales, Dorothy Sue Cobble, Sharon M. Collins, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Susan Eisenberg, Ashley English, Yen Le Espiritu, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Nancy Folbre, Carla Freeman, Michele Ruth Gamburd, Jacqueline Goodman, Janet C. Gornick, Yvonne Guerrier, Luigi Guiso, Shannon Harper, Heidi Hartmann, Ariane Hegewisch, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Jacqueline Jones, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ivy Kennelly, Alice Kessler-Harris, Michael Kimmel, Eleanor Leacock, Judith Lorber, Susan E. Martin, Marcia K.Meyers, Ferdinando Monte, Martha C. Nussbaum, Jennifer Pierce, Pun Ngai, Barbara Reskin, Tracey Reynolds, Leslie Salzinger, Paola Sapienza, Joan W. Scott, Tyson Smith, Margaret Talbot, Louise A. Tilly, Christine L. Williams, Muhammad Yunus, and Luigi Zingales.
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Reviews

Gender-based division of labor is a problem that plagues nations, developed and developing alike. What are the origins of gendered division of labor Does it have roots in biological differences between men and women and the social construction of gender What forms did or does the division of labor take How and why do societies justify divisions of labor How does the division of labor impact women and men Edited by Goodman, this volume of 39 articles addresses these fundamental questions in a comprehensive manner. The topic is initiated with a helpful section on the origins and meaning of sex and gender and the division of labor. A section on the history of gender and work follows. Also included are two sections on wage inequality and discrimination in the workplace and sections on the global division of labor, gender and family, and policy alternatives. The reference list is an additional attraction. This is an extremely useful resource for labor, social science, and gender studies collections. Highly recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Jacqueline Goodmans invaluable collection of classic and contemporary essays on women and work is unique in that it brings together in one place a comprehensive survey of the issues surrounding this important topic, while introducing readers to many of the most significant scholars in the field. Her book will be of great interest to anyone who is concerned about the history and progress of women in the workplace. -- Sandra Sarkela, University of Memphis
Jacqueline Goodman and her collaborators take on the most fundamental questions at the intersection of gender and labor in this important volume. A must read for anyone interested in the role of gender differences in pay, mobility, and occupational specialization, this book brings the leading authors on all of these topics together in one place. It is a critical contribution to the interdisciplinary literature on work. -- Katherine Newman, Princeton University
This book is both accessible and sophisticated in its exploration of fundamental questions related to gender and work. Jacqueline Goodman and her contributors analyze the historical and contemporary realities of the work-family nexus that shapes and is shaped by the social construction and reconstruction of gender over time and place. All the important bases are coveredfrom the origin and contemporary manifestations of global gender divisions to analyses of persistent inequalities to classic questions about individualist vs. structural perspectives on possibilities for change. This book is an asset to students, scholars, and anyone else interested in understanding the dynamic intersection of gender and work. -- Jamie F. Dangler, author of Hidden in the Home: The Role of Waged Homework in the Modern World-Economy
Jacqueline Goodman has given us all a savvy collection that reveals how much smart feminist investigating and thinking has been done about women's and men's complex engagements with paid and unpaid work. This is one of the most up-to-date, worldly, and analytically sharp edited volumes I've seen. Toy store clerking, bathtub cleaning, and night work will never look the same. -- Cynthia Enloe, author of Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link

Author Bio

Jacqueline Goodman is professor of sociology and director of women's and gender studies at the State University of New York, Potsdam College.