For the family? : how class and gender shape women's work /
Damaske, Sarah.
For the family? : how class and gender shape women's work / Sarah Damaske. - New York : Oxford University Press, ©2011. - 1 online resource (xiii, 228 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Women's work trajectories: need, choice and women's strategies -- The shape of women's work pathways -- A major career woman? How women develop early expectations about work -- Staying steady: good work and family support across classes -- Pulling back: divergent routes to similar pathways -- A life interrupted -- For the family: how women account for work decisions -- Having it all? Egalitarian dreams deferred -- Appendix -- Notes -- References -- Index.
"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 this timely volume, Sarah Damaske 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, Damaske 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, Damaske 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, Damaske shows that both middle-class and working-class women found themselves pulling back from work, but for vastly different reasons. For the Family? 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. Damaske 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. In For the Family?, Sarah Damaske at last provides a far more nuanced and richer picture of women, work, and class than conventional wisdom offers"--
9780199791644 (electronic bk.) 0199791643 (electronic bk.)
2011010834
015850932 Uk
Women--Employment--Economic aspects--United States.
Social classes--Economic aspects--United States.
Women--Economic conditions.--United States
Women--Social conditions.--United States
Work and family--United States.
Classes sociales--Aspect économique--États-Unis.
Femmes--Conditions économiques.--États-Unis
Femmes--Conditions sociales.--États-Unis
Travail et familles--États-Unis.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Labor.
POLITICAL SCIENCE--Labor & Industrial Relations.
Social classes--Economic aspects.
Women--Economic conditions.
Women--Social conditions.
Work and family.
United States.
Electronic books.
HD6095 / .D36 2011eb
331.40973
For the family? : how class and gender shape women's work / Sarah Damaske. - New York : Oxford University Press, ©2011. - 1 online resource (xiii, 228 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Women's work trajectories: need, choice and women's strategies -- The shape of women's work pathways -- A major career woman? How women develop early expectations about work -- Staying steady: good work and family support across classes -- Pulling back: divergent routes to similar pathways -- A life interrupted -- For the family: how women account for work decisions -- Having it all? Egalitarian dreams deferred -- Appendix -- Notes -- References -- Index.
"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 this timely volume, Sarah Damaske 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, Damaske 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, Damaske 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, Damaske shows that both middle-class and working-class women found themselves pulling back from work, but for vastly different reasons. For the Family? 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. Damaske 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. In For the Family?, Sarah Damaske at last provides a far more nuanced and richer picture of women, work, and class than conventional wisdom offers"--
9780199791644 (electronic bk.) 0199791643 (electronic bk.)
2011010834
015850932 Uk
Women--Employment--Economic aspects--United States.
Social classes--Economic aspects--United States.
Women--Economic conditions.--United States
Women--Social conditions.--United States
Work and family--United States.
Classes sociales--Aspect économique--États-Unis.
Femmes--Conditions économiques.--États-Unis
Femmes--Conditions sociales.--États-Unis
Travail et familles--États-Unis.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS--Labor.
POLITICAL SCIENCE--Labor & Industrial Relations.
Social classes--Economic aspects.
Women--Economic conditions.
Women--Social conditions.
Work and family.
United States.
Electronic books.
HD6095 / .D36 2011eb
331.40973