The second edition of
Working Women in America: Split Dreams highlights current research on critical issues affecting American women in today's global workplace. It features updated information and examples, including extended discussions of women's activism within and outside of the workplace, the impact of globalization, the effects of the glass ceiling and sexual harassment, and women's roles in the U.S. labor movement. Retaining the focus of the first edition, this text emphasizes the continuity of women's work experience. It seeks to dispel the misconception that women's work is a recent phenomenon, when in fact women have been working throughout history. The book also addresses the constant tension and multiple roles that women must manage. The lives of working women are indeed characterized by "split dreams": most women who work are constantly juggling their work and family dreams. It is therefore misleading to concentrate solely on the workplace when seeking to understand women's position at work. Rather, one must pay attention to the connections among societal institutions. To this end, the authors argue for and utilize a structural approach-one that examines the ways in which the economy, education, the family, and the polity reflect and influence one another and help reinforce women's subordination. Only when these connections are brought to light is it possible to begin to formulate alternatives to conventional ideas concerning work, family, and gender roles.
The authors begin by situating their research in opposition to dominant sociological models of work. They then provide a thorough historical overview of women at work, carefully examining the diversity of women's experiences by race, ethnicity, class, and age. Economic, legal, political, familial, and educational institutions are also analyzed to show the ways in which they help produce and maintain inequality for women in the workplace. Working Women in America: Split Dreams intersperses first-person accounts throughout the book and provides a number of vignettes of women employed in a variety of occupations. It is an ideal text for courses in women's studies, sociology, economics, social work, and history, and fascinating reading for anyone interested in women and their work.
List of Tables and Figures
Preface
1. Models of Women and Work
The Poltics of Knowledge Building
The Functionalist Paradigm
Model 1, The Employed Women as Invisible
Model 2, The Employed Women as a Social Problem Mode
Model 3, Male Work Experience is the Norm
Model 4, Socialization and "Ladies Choice"
Model 5, Superwomen
Summing Up
An Alternative Perspective: The Structural Approach
2. A Brief History of Working Women
Women Workers in Pre-Industrial America
White Women
Women of Color
Native American Women
The Arrival of Industrialization
The Legacy of Slavery
World War I and the Depression
World War II
After World War II: The Rise of the Married Women Worker
Women of Color
Other Women of Color at Work
Native American Women
Latina Women
Some Summary Comparisons
Asian-American Women
The Status Quo: No Shangri-La
3. Gender Inequality: Economic and Legal Explanations
Sex Segregation of Occupations
The Glass Ceiling
The Growing Importance of the Female/Male Earnings Gap
Explaining Occupational Segregation and Inequality
The Economic Context -- The Individual Approach
Sex-Role Socialization and Women's "Choices"
Human Capital Theory
Limitations of the Individual Approach
The Economic Context -- The Structural Approach
Dual Labor Markets
Discriminatory Practices
The Legal Context
A Short History: The Colonial Period
Women, The Factory System, and Protective Legislation
Protective Legislation
Domestic-Relations Laws and Other Legislation
Other Recent Legislation: Sex Discrimination and Equal Opportunity
The Equal Pay Act
Comparable Worth
Title VII
Affirmative Action
EEOC
Title IX
The Women's Movement
Summary
4. Gender Inequality and Socialization: The Influences of Family, School, Peers, and the Media
Gender Roles -- Products of Biology or Socialization?
The Family
The Educational System
The Special Case of Single-Sex Schools
Peer Groups
The Media
Consequences of Gender Socialization for Career Choices
Racial, Ethnic, and Class Variations in Gender Socialization
Women of Color
Social Class
Summary
5. Women in Everyday Jobs: Clerical, Sales, Service, and Blue-Collar Work
Women in Clerical Occupations
The Feminization of Clerical Work: A Historical Examination
Clerical Work as "Female" Labor
Sexual Harassment and Clerical Work
The Clerical Worker and Technological Advancement
Organization of Clerical Workers
Sales and Service Occupations
Women in Waitressing
Women in Retail Sales
Sales and Service Outlook
Domestic Service
Women in Blue-Collar Work
Globalization of Factory Work
Where Do We Go From Here?
6. Professional and Managerial Women
A Brief History of the Feminization of Selected Semi-Professions: Teaching, Nursing, and Social Work
A Short History of Women in Management
Contemporary Status of Women in Professions and Management
Ghettoization and Job Segregation
Structural Barriers to Women in the Professions and Management
Organizational Culture, Policies, and Practices
Organizational Culture
The Clockwork of Male Careers
Networking ("The Old-Boys Network")
Mentors
Tokenism
Positionality
Summary
7. Working Women and Their Families
Impact of Industrialization and Capitalism on Housework
Women's Double Day
Men's Resistance to Housework
Women's Coping Strategies/Individualistic Resolutions
Structural Solutions
Where Do We Go From Here?
8. Changing the Lives of Working Women
The Women's Movement
Backlash
Attitudes Toward Working Women
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Authors