Both women and men strive to achieve a work and family balance, but does this imply more or less equality? Does the persistence of gender and class inequalities refute the notion that lives are becoming more individualised? Leading international authorities document how gender inequalities are changing and how many inequalities of earlier eras are being eradicated. However, this book shows there are new barriers and constraints that are slowing progress in attaining a more egalitarian society. Taking the new global economy into account, the expert contributors to this book examine the conflicts between different types of feminisms, revise old debates about 'equality' and 'difference' in the gendered nature of work and care, and propose new and innovative policy solutions.
This path-breaking book makes essential reading for all those interested in the intersections of class, family and employment in the 21st century. Students and researchers of sociology, gender studies and social policy, as well as practitioners and policy-makers interested in work-family balance, will find this book invaluable.
Contents:
Introduction: What's New About Gender Inequalities in the 21st Century?
Jacqueline Scott, Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette
PART I: FAMILY AND LABOUR MARKET CHANGE
1. Becoming Adult: The Persisting Importance of Class and Gender
Ingrid Schoon
2. Class Reproduction, Occupational Inheritance and Occupational Choices
Fiona Devine
3. Ethnic Differences in Women's Economic Activity: A Focus on Pakistani and Bangladeshi Women
Angela Dale and Sameera Ahmed
PART II: OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURES AND WELFARE REGIMES
4. Gender and the Post-industrial Shift
Janette Webb
5. Penalties of Part-time Work Across Europe
Tracey Warren
6. Feminising Professions in Britain and France: How Countries Differ
Nicky Le Feuvre
PART III: THE CHALLENGE OF INTEGRATING FAMILY AND WORK
7. Gender Segregation and Bargaining in Domestic Labour: Evidence from Longitudinal Time-use Data
Man Yee Kan and Jonathan Gershuny
8. Family, Class and Gender 'Strategies' in Mothers' Employment and Childcare
Rosemary Crompton and Clare Lyonette
9. Perceptions of Quality of Life: Gender Differences Across the Life Course
Jacqueline Scott, Anke C. Plagnol and Jane Nolan
PART IV: UNDERSTANDING INEQUALITIES
10. Within-Household Inequalities Across Classes? Management and Control of Money
Fran Bennett, Jerome De Henau and Sirin Sung
11. Restructuring Gender Relations: Women's Labour Market Participation and Earnings Inequality Among Households
Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund and Arne Mastekaasa
PART V: CONFRONTING COMPLEXITY
12. Feminist Policies and Feminist Conflicts: Daddy's Care or Mother's Milk?
Anne Lise Ellingsæter
13. A Mysterious Commodity: Capitalism and Femininity
Mary Evans
Index
