Women on the Line

by Glucksmann Aka Ruth Cavendish;

• ISBN13: 9780415476416
• ISBN10: 0415476410
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Women on the Lineis a pioneering ethnographic classic of the world of work in a British motor components factory. Miriam Glucksmann (aka Ruth Cavendish), a well-known contributor to the study of gender, work and employment, is for the first time revealed as the author, along with the identity of the company, product and factory. Recording the experience of migrant women from Ireland, the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent with the immediacy of a diary, this is a unique account from an observing participant of the daily routines of repetitive work, a strike led by women from below, and the temporalities of work, home, children and leisure. Glucksmann's vivid narrative of life on the assembly line is combined with an analysis of the intersections of gender, ethnicity and class that prefigures subsequent theoretical advances. This edition contains a new introduction situating the book in contemporary debates and developments and includes original photographs taken on the shop floor at the time.

Table of Contents

Introduction to 2008 edition: From experience to reflection: changes and continuities in womenG++s work

Preface to 1982 edition: Freedom of speech

A Factory Job

The Company

Jobs on the Line

Getting to know the Women

Arlene

Rosemary

Together on the Line

Anna

Josey

Life Outside

The division of Labour

The dictatorship of Production

Speed up

Control of the Line

Doing Time

Physical Survival

Bonus and Wages

The Union and the Dispute

The Union

The Dispute Starts

The Main Assembly Slows Down

Suspension G++ the Other Manual Workers Join Us

Women in the Machine Shop

Divided and Defeated

Return to Work

What to Make of It?

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.