Global Perspectives on Gender and Work

Readings and Interpretations

Edited by Jacqueline Goodman

Hardback - £135.00

Publication date:

16 April 2010

Length of book:

616 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742556133

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 work—whether it is well-paid, unpaid, or underpaid—profoundly 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.


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.