Women And Employment

‘. . . this book represents a reference work for the understanding of past and new gender issues and may be of relevance to a wide audience: those studying social and political sciences and gender studies scholars. . . Education researchers should be interested in the attention drawn to the impact of women’s orientation at school and in higher education on gendered attitudes, experiences and trajectories for the future.’
– Julie Jarty, Gender & Education

‘An informative and important volume.’
– Johanna Kumlin, European Sociological Review

‘This collection further contributes to our awareness of the complicated intersection of work and family life for women and men and to a few of the socio-economic factors which serve as impediments to its synchronization. It is well written, carefully researched, and rather detailed in its analysis.’
– Susan Cody, Sex Roles

‘This excellent collection deserves to be read, and from cover to cover. . . all the contributions focus on the UK situation over the past 25 years, although some offer comparative exemplars and analysis. This national focus makes this collection an essential resource for those working in the UK (and Europe). But, the general empirical excellence of the collection, as well as the theoretical insights generated in some of the chapters, make this an essential collection for anyone interested in gender and work.’
– Lesley Patterson, Gender in Management: An International Journal

‘There cannot be a richer collection than this on the topic of women, their employment conditions and how they balance home and work life. . . a valuable resource that can be returned to for hard statistics and proven solutions you can use in your own policy creation.’
– Equality and Diversity

‘This collection will be an invaluable resource for anyone concerned with changes in women’s employment over the last twenty-five years. Authoritative and up to date, it is simultaneously wide-ranging and focused, analytical and policy oriented. The editors have brought together the knowledge of many renowned experts to reflect on labour market developments and gendered employment. Attention to transitions across the life course is a particularly welcome feature of the book, as is the linking of employment studies with family research.’
– Miriam Glucksmann, University of Essex, UK

How is women’s employment shaped by family and domestic responsibilities? This book, written by leading experts in the field, examines twenty-five years of change in women’s employment and addresses the challenges facing women today.

The authors offer an innovative analysis of how global changes including new migration processes, educational expansion, transnational labour markets, technological advances and the global economy affect women’s labour market experiences. They tackle issues relevant for future change, including gender inequalities and ethnic diversities, and confront contentious questions such as what is meant by work–life balance. The book provides new empirical research that both advances our understanding of the challenges posed by women’s employment in our changing society and draws out the policy lessons that could improve economic and social wellbeing.

Providing dynamic analysis of employment–family inter relationships, Women and Employment will be of great relevance to social scientists and academics interested in employment and family as well as policymakers concerned with changing women’s employment.

Contents:

Introduction: Changing Lives and New Challenges
Jacqueline Scott, Shirley Dex, Heather Joshi, Kate Purcell and Peter Elias

PART I: WOMEN AND EMPLOYMENT: ASSESSING PROGRESS ON EQUALITY
1. Achieving Equality in the Knowledge Economy
Kate Purcell and Peter Elias

2. Changes in Women’s Occupations and Occupational Mobility Over 25 Years
Shirley Dex, Kelly Ward and Heather Joshi

3. Ethnic Differences in Women’s Labour Market Activity
Angela Dale, Joanne Lindley, Shirley Dex and Anthony Rafferty

PART II: DYNAMICS OF EMPLOYMENT AND FAMILY ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE
4. Putting Women on the Research Agenda: The 1980 Women and Employment Survey
Jean Martin and Ceridwen Roberts

5. The New Dynamics of Family Formation and the Explosion of Childbearing Outside Marriage
John Ermisch

6. Changing Gender Role Attitudes
Jacqueline Scott

PART III: WORK–LIFE BALANCE
7. Working Full-Time After Motherhood
Susan McRae

8. Class Difference in Mothers’ Work Schedules and Assessments of their ‘Work–Life Balance’ in Dual-Earner Couples in Britain
Colette Fagan, Linda McDowell, Diane Perrons, Kathryn Ray and Kevin Ward

9. Mothers’ Employment, Work–Life Conflict, Careers and Class
Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette

10. The Household Division of Labour: Changes in Families’ Allocation of Paid and Unpaid Work
Susan Harkness

11. Work–Family Balance Policies: Issues and Development in the UK 1997–2005 in Comparative Perspective
Jane Lewis

PART IV: WAYS FORWARD
12. Women and Work in the UK: The Need for a Modernisation of Labour Market Institutions
Jill Rubery

13. The Regulation of Women’s Pay: From Individual Rights to Reflexive Law?
Simon Deakin and Colm McLaughlin

14. Migration, Employment and Gender Divisions of Labour
Linda McDowell, Adina Batnitzky and Sarah Dyer

15. Policy on Care: A Help or Hindrance to Gender Equality?
Susan Himmelweit

Index