Description
The authors argue that homeworking replicates wider divisions in the labour force and that its potential for improving women's employment opportunities is therefore limited. Using original research, they outline the advantages and disadvantages, the pay and conditions, and the family situations for contemporary women homeworkers. Gender, class, racism and ethnicity are shown to be key factors in constructing the homeworking labour force. The authors acknowledge the shared position that homeworkers occupy as women, as well as the differences experienced by clerical, manufacturing and professional homeworkers, and question whether new technology in itself can be the way forward to a better paid, less onerous form of homeworking.
About the Author
Carol Wolkowitz is a Reader in the Department of Sociology. Her research has involved a number of different areas of gender studies. She has a long-standing interest in gender in Indian history and politics, stemming from her doctoral research on women politicians' careers in South India. Since then much of her work has focused on gender and employment. She is co-author of two books on homeworking and home-located work, Homeworking Women: Gender, Class and Racism at Work (1995) and Homeworking: Myths and Realities (1987). In 2006 she published Bodies at Work (Sage), exploring 'body work' and the relation between embodiment, gender and the labour process. Her other publications include the Glossary of Feminist Theory (1997), with Terry Lovell and Sonya Andermahr, and several articles exploring the use of personal narratives to understand women's roles in the American communities established by the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. She was also co-editor of Of Marriage and the Market: Women's Subordination in International Perspective (1981 and 1985). Besides supervising PhD theses on a wide range of topics, she teaches a postgraduate module on Sex, Gender and Power and the visual methods component of the MA qualitative methods module. At undergraduate level she convenes Sexuality and Society and co-teaches Visual Sociology
Reviews
`Feminism and sociology have both discussed motherhood, but have so far failed to address childrearing as such - a serious omission, when children are such a key pre-occupation in many women's lives and childrearing is central to social processes over time. This book argues the importance of listening to mother's own voices and presents evidence on this basis' - Jane Ribbens, Oxford Brookes University
`This book challenges existing research, such as it is, and provides new empirical evidence on the gendered and racialised nature of homeworking. Moreover, it is distinctive in that it also offers an agenda for action to improve the appalling conditions that many homeworkers were found to be experiencing.... Homeworking Women is committed research at its best: scientifically sound but with clear policy implications drawn out.... extremely accessibly written and provides an excellent overview and critique of existing research. There is a substantial accout of the methodological approach, given the difficulties of accessing homeworkers and persuading them to co-operate in research.... fills an important gap in our knowledge and makes sobering reading' - Housing Studies
`For those new to the subject this will serve as a very useful introduction enabling them to grasp some of the theoretical, methodological and political issues raised by homeworking which continue to be highly contentious' - Sociology
`This book makes a timely contribution at both the academic and political levels. At the academic level, it nudges forward our understanding of the complexity of the operation of labour markets, in particular by asserting the importance of race, alongside gender and class, as an important variable. At the political level, it provides us with invaluable information about what homeworkers want, thus informing future campaigns on their behalf' - Work, Employment and Society
Book Information
ISBN 9780803988743
Author Annie Phizacklea
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Sage Publications Ltd
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd
Weight(grams) 210g
