Hard Labour

by Gatrell, Caroline

• ISBN13: 9780335214891
• ISBN10: 0335214894
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

This book examines changes in family practices and paid work in the 21st century. Focusing principally on highly qualified women who combine the mothering of very young children with employment, it makes a valuable contribution to current debates. Unlike other books in the field that focus on one gender only, this innovative book also takes into account the views of fathers, making it a rounded study of family practice in the new millennium.The first part ofHard Labourprovides an up-to-date, comprehensive and readable overview of the literature on motherhood, fatherhood, family practices, and women in employment. The second part draws on a qualitative study of the lives of 20 mothers and their husbands/partners, each of whom is educated to degree level or above, and has at least one child under five. Key aspects of the family lives of the men and women interviewed are considered, for example how they manage their commitments to one another, their children and their professional work, and how they share out family tasks such as childcare and housework. At each stage, the empirical research is explicitly placed in the context of the literature referenced in the first part, and of the wider debate on career motherhood.Essential reading for students and academics in sociology, family policy, family studies, women's or gender studies and the sociology of management/employment.

Author Biography

Caroline Gatrell (United Kingdom) is the director of the doctoral program in Critical Management at Lancaster University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(12)
Lone mothers, poor mothers and the diversity of family practices	5	(2)
Lived experience in a socially constructed world	7	(2)
An overview of key arguments	9	(86)
Overview of Part 1	10	(1)
Overview of Part 2	10	(3)
PART 1 The Sociology of Parenting and Paid Work	13	(82)
1 'The impossible dream?'
Motherhood and employment	15	(15)
Introduction	15	(1)
Motherhood and paid work	16	(1)
Career motherhood - an increasing trend	17	(1)
Labour Force Survey	17	(1)
National Child Development Study	20	(1)
National Survey of Health and Development	20	(1)
The reasons for change - cause or effect?	21	(1)
Motherhood, employment and policy	22	(1)
The social relations of gender in the workplace	25	(1)
'Flexible' and part-time employment	26	(1)
Policy and practice	27	(1)
Paternity leave	28	(1)
Summary	29	(1)
2 Parents, children and family lives	30	(15)
Introduction	30	(1)
Family lives and the work of Talcott Parsons	31	(5)
Criticisms of Parsons - an over-socialized vision of (wo)man?	33	(3)
Feminism and the invisibility of research on family lives	36	(1)
Family practices, family lives and mainstream sociology	37	(1)
Family practices and intimate relationships	37	(7)
Serial monogamy and the 'pure relationship'	37	(1)
The Normal Chaos of Love	38	(3)
The Time Bind	41	(1)
Parenting post-divorce	42	(1)
The New Family?	43	(1)
Summary	44	(1)
3 Domestic goddesses?	45	(26)
Introduction	45	(1)
The sociology of motherhood	46	(5)
The institution of motherhood - a feminist view	47	(1)
Radical feminism	48	(1)
The institution of motherhood	49	(2)
The transition to motherhood - 'a whole new definition of "normal"'	51	(6)
The medicalization of reproduction and childbirth	53	(3)
Public attitudes to pregnancy and mothers	56	(1)
The aftermath of birth - coping with life and motherhood	57	(4)
Working mothers and the 'public interest'	58	(3)
Social expectations and the 'good mother'	61	(2)
Managing a household - the ideal of the 'domestic goddess'	63	(5)
Emotional labour and the 'domestic goddess'	68	(2)
Summary	70	(1)
4 Moneybags and the invisible father	71	(9)
Introduction	71	(1)
Fatherhood within a marriage/relationship	72	(3)
Fatherhood post-divorce/separation	75	(2)
Fatherhood and occupation versus 'invisible' fatherhood	77	(2)
Summary	79	(1)
5 Working for love or money?
The commitment of mothers to paid work	80	(21)
Introduction	80	(1)
Working for money	81	(4)
Working for a sense of self	85	(1)
Social identity theory	87	(1)
'Being a breadwinner': The power of earned income	88	(3)
The attributes of power	91	(1)
A 'modern' definition	91	(1)
...and a 'post-modern' definition	92	(2)
Summary	94	(1)
PART 2 Doing it All (and having some of it)	95	(122)
Introduction	95	(1)
Summary of similarities to, and departures from, the literature	96	(1)
The research project	97	(109)
6 'Baby, you changed my life'
The transition to motherhood	101	(29)
Introduction	102	(1)
Losing control: The experience of pregnancy and giving birth	102	(1)
Depression and lack of maternal control	103	(1)
Physical health problems	108	(1)
The shock of the new	109	(2)
'Domestic goddesses'? Childcare, wifework and emotional labour	111	(1)
The value of experience	115	(1)
Guilt and the 'bad mother'	115	(3)
'Built-in' behaviour? The emotional bonds of motherhood versus the 'institution of motherhood'	118	(2)
'Pink jobs and blue jobs': Women's responsibility for domestic labour	120	(1)
'Help' with the housework	120	(1)
Working to pay for help with the domestic chores	125	(1)
'I should iron his shirts': Laundry, and the symbolism of tending men's shirts	126	(3)
Summary	129	(1)
7 A labour of love (and a sound investment)
The division of childcare work and the centrality of children to fathers' lives	130	(19)
Introduction	130	(1)
'What about me?' The transition to fatherhood	131	(3)
Fathers' involvement in childcare	134	(1)
Fathers who choose to prioritize children over career	135	(1)
Fathers who learn to embrace the responsibility for childcare	140	(1)
Emotional labour	142	(4)
'Good' fathers	146	(1)
Summary	147	(2)
8 'Everything I do, I do for you'
The commitment to work and child	149	(34)
Introduction	150	(1)
Working for love of the job	151	(1)
Working to retain a hard-won position - for 'me' and for 'the population I serve'	152	(2)
Working to 'earn decent money'?	154	(2)
The high social capital of 'career' (and the low value placed on full-time motherhood by society)	156	(1)
The low value placed on full-time motherhood by husbands/partners	161	(1)
Fear of 'institutionalized' motherhood	163	(1)
Working to remain equal: Power, earned income and the 'balance' of the intimate relationship	164	(1)
Freedom from domestic duties - and male oppression	167	(3)
110%: The commitment of mothers to paid work...	170	(2)
...and the pain of parting: The commitment of mothers to their children	172	(1)
'I want to spend more time with my kids than my Dad did': The commitment of fathers to paid work and children	173	(2)
Precious time	175	(3)
Whose children? Power, the children and the intimate relationship	178	(3)
Summary	181	(2)
9 Everyone is equal...?
Parenthood and workplace discrimination	183	(23)
Introduction	184	(1)
'Fighting your own corner': Motherhood, discrimination and the workplace	185	(1)
During pregnancy	186	(1)
After childbirth - the link between flexible working and demotion	187	(1)
Being downgraded 'through the back door'	191	(2)
A paper tiger: 'Family-friendly' policies	193	(4)
The 'arduous battle': Who wants to go to court?	197	(1)
Support for mothers returning to work, and innovative practices	198	(1)
'New' organizations and innovative practice	199	(1)
Being assertive	201	(1)
Gendered approaches to returning mothers - and fathers!	202	(3)
Summary	205	(1)
10 'My children must become our children'	206	(11)
Introduction	206	(1)
Practical help	207	(3)
Challenging 'Parsonian' attitudes	210	(3)
Changing social attitudes to family practices	213	(2)
Conclusions	215	(2)
References	217	(10)
Index	227