Working Women in America Split Dreams

by Hesse-Biber, Sharlene; Carter, Gregg

• ISBN13: 9780195110241
• ISBN10: 0195110242
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-08-19
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Working Women in America: Split Dreams studies the ynamic growth in women's labor force participation with an eye to understanding what the actual experience of working women is today. The book offers a broad perspective on the diversity of women and their work, and it raises the need torethink ideas concerning work, family and gender roles in order to help solve women's work and family lie dilemmas. It utilizes a structural approach to rethink these ideas and resolve these dilemmas. The book's central argument is that to understand the position of women in the work world, one mustanalyze women's situation in the economy, the family, education, and the polity -- in short, within society as large -- because these various social institutions connect, reflect and influence one another. The authors begin with an historical perspective on women at work which recognizes theimportance of the economic and legal dimensions of women's work lives. This broad perspective lays the groundwork to a further examination of the particular work situations of women and a recognition of the fact that diversity of women's work experiences are formed by racial, class, and otherinequalities (sexual, age, etc.).

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	ix
Preface	xiii
Models of Women and Work	1	(16)
The Politics of Knowledge Building	2	(2)
The Functionalist Paradigm	4	(9)
Model 1, The Employed Woman as Invisible	4	(2)
Model 2, The Employed Woman as a Social Problem Mode	6	(4)
Model 3, Male Work Experience is the Norm	10	(1)
Model 4, Socialization and ``Ladies Choice''	11	(1)
Model 5, Superwoman	12	(1)
Summing Up	13	(1)
An Alternative Perspective: The Structural Approach	13	(4)
A Brief History of Working Women	17	(36)
Women Workers in Pre-Industrial America	17	(9)
White Women	18	(3)
Women of Color	21	(2)
Native American Women	23	(3)
The Arrival of Industrialization	26	(5)
The Legacy of Slavery	30	(1)
World War I and the Depression	31	(3)
World War II	34	(3)
After World War II: The Rise of the Married Woman Worker	37	(3)
Women of Color	40	(11)
Other Women of Color at Work	40	(11)
The Status Quo: No Shangri-La	51	(2)
Gender Inequality: Economic and Legal Explanations	53	(38)
Sex Segregation of Occupations	54	(6)
The Glass Ceiling	57	(3)
The Growing Importance of the Female/Male Earnings Gap	60	(3)
Explaining Occupational Segregation and Inequality	63	(1)
The Economic Context---The Individual Approach	64	(4)
Sex-Role Socialization and Women's ``Choices''	64	(1)
Human Capital Theory	65	(2)
Limitations of the Individual Approach	67	(1)
The Economic Context---The Structural Approach	68	(4)
Dual Labor Markets	69	(1)
Discriminatory Practices	70	(2)
The Legal Context	72	(13)
A Short History: The Colonial Period	73	(1)
Women, the Factory System, and Protective Legislation	74	(3)
Domestic-Relations Laws and Other Legislation	77	(1)
Other Recent Legislation: Sex Discrimination and Equal Opportunity	78	(7)
The Women's Movement	85	(3)
Summary	88	(3)
Gender Inequality and Socialization: The Influences of Family, School, Peers, and the Media	91	(23)
Gender Roles---Products of Biology or Socialization?	91	(13)
The Family	94	(3)
The Educational System	97	(3)
Peer Groups	100	(1)
The Media	101	(3)
Consequences of Gender Socialization for Career Choices	104	(5)
Racial, Ethnic, and Class Variations in Gender Socialization	109	(2)
Women of Color	109	(1)
Social Class	110	(1)
Summary	111	(3)
Women in Everday Jobs: Clerical, Sales, Service, and Blue-Collar Work	114	(37)
Women in Clerical Occupations	114	(12)
The Feminization of Clerical Work: A Historical Examination	115	(3)
Clerical Work as ``Female'' Labor	118	(1)
Sexual Harassment and Clerical Work	119	(3)
The Clerical Worker and Technological Advancement	122	(2)
Organization of Clerical Workers	124	(2)
Sales and Service Occupations	126	(13)
Women in Waitressing	131	(3)
Women in Retail Sales	134	(3)
Sales and Service Outlook	137	(2)
Domestic Service	139	(3)
Women in Blue-Collar Work	142	(6)
Globalization of Factory Work	147	(1)
Where Do We Go From Here?	148	(3)
Professional and Managerial Women	151	(23)
A Brief History of the Feminization of Selected Semi-Professions: Teaching, Nursing, and Social Work	152	(4)
A Short History of Women in Management	156	(2)
Contemporary Status of Women in Professions and Management	158	(5)
Ghettoization and Job Segregation	159	(4)
Structural Barriers to Women in the Professions and Management	163	(9)
Organizational Culture, Policies, and Practices	166	(6)
Summary	172	(2)
Working Women and Their Families	174	(17)
Impact of Industrialization and Capitalism on Housework	177	(2)
Women's Double Day	179	(3)
Men's Resistance to Housework	182	(2)
Women's Coping Strategies/Individualistic Resolutions	184	(2)
Structural Solutions	186	(3)
Where Do We Go from Here?	189	(2)
Changing the Lives of Working Women	191	(10)
The Women's Movement	191	(3)
Backlash	194	(3)
Attitudes Toward Working Women	197	(4)
References	201	(24)
Author Index	225	(6)
Subject Index	231	(4)
About the Authors	235