For the family? : how class and gender shape women's work / Sarah Damaske.
2011
331.40973 D155f 2011
Available at 3rd Floor
Formats
| Format | |
|---|---|
| BibTeX | |
| MARCXML | |
| TextMARC | |
| MARC | |
| DublinCore | |
| EndNote | |
| NLM | |
| RefWorks | |
| RIS | |
Title
For the family? : how class and gender shape women's work / Sarah Damaske.
Author
ISBN
9780199791507 (hardback : acid-free paper)
0199791503 (hardback : acid-free paper)
9780199791491 (paperback : acid-free paper)
019979149X (paperback : acid-free paper)
0199791503 (hardback : acid-free paper)
9780199791491 (paperback : acid-free paper)
019979149X (paperback : acid-free paper)
Imprint
New York : Oxford University Press, c2011.
Language
English
Description
xiii, 228 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Other Standard Identifiers
6796246
Call Number
331.40973 D155f 2011
System Control No.
(OCoLC)709682893
(OCoLC)709682893
(OCoLC)709682893
Summary
In the emotional public debate about women and work, conventional wisdom holds that middle-class women "choose" whether or not to work, while working class "need" to work. Yet, despite the recent economic crisis, national trends show that middle-class women are more likely to work than working-class women. In thisvolume, the author debunks the myth that financial needs determine women's workforce participation, revealing that financial resources make it easier for women to remain at work, not easier to leave it. Departing from mainstream research, she finds not two (working or not working), but three main employment patterns: steady, pulled back, and interrupted. Looking at the differences between women in these three groups, she discovers that financial resources made it easier for middle-class women to remain at work steadily, while working-class women often found themselves following interrupted work pathways in which they experienced multiple bouts of unemployment. While most of the national attention has been focused on women who leave work, she shows that both middle-class and working-class women found themselves pulling back from work, but for vastly different reasons. This book concludes that the public debate about women's work remains focused on need because women themselves emphasize the importance of family needs in their decision-making. The auhtor argues that despite differences in work experiences, class, race, and familial support, most women explained their work decisions by pointing to family needs, connecting work to family rather than an individual pursuit. At last the auhtor provides a far more nuanced and richer picture of women, work, and class than conventional wisdom offers.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-213) and index.
Formatted Contents Note
The need and choice myths
Expectations about Work. The shape of women's work pathways ; A "major career woman" : how women develop early expectations about work
Work Pathways. Working steadily: good work and family support across classes ; Pulling back: divergent routes to similar pathways ; A life interrupted: cumulative disadvantages disrupt plans
Negotiating Expectations. For the family: how women account for work decisions ; Having it all: egalitarian dreams deferred.
Expectations about Work. The shape of women's work pathways ; A "major career woman" : how women develop early expectations about work
Work Pathways. Working steadily: good work and family support across classes ; Pulling back: divergent routes to similar pathways ; A life interrupted: cumulative disadvantages disrupt plans
Negotiating Expectations. For the family: how women account for work decisions ; Having it all: egalitarian dreams deferred.
Record Appears in