Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It

by Joan Williams

Overview

In Unbending Gender, Joan Williams takes a hard look at the state of feminism in America. Concerned by what she finds--young women who flatly refuse to identify themselves as feminists and working-class and minority women who feel the movement hasn't addressed the issues that dominate their daily lives--she outlines a new vision of feminism that calls for workplaces focused on the needs of families and, in divorce cases, recognition of the value of family work and its impact on women's earning power. Williams shows that workplaces are designed around men's bodies and life patterns in ways that discriminate against women, and that the work/family system that results is terrible for men, worse for women, and worst of all for children. She proposes a set of practical policies and legal initiatives to reorganize the two realms of work in employment and households--so that men and women can lead healthier and more productive personal and work lives. Williams introduces a new 'reconstructive' feminism that places class, race, and gender conflicts among women at center stage. Her solution is an inclusive, family-friendly feminism that supports both mothers and fathers as caregivers and as workers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199840472
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/13/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Joan Williams is Professor and Director of the Program on Gender, Work and Family at American University Law School. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

	Preface: What This Book Is About	IX
	Acknowledgments	XI
	Introduction	1
Part I	Unbending Gender in Social Life	11
Chapter 1	Is Domesticity Dead?	13
Chapter 2	From Full Commodification to Reconstructive Feminism	40
Chapter 3	Deconstructing the Ideal-Worker Norm in Market Work	64
Chapter 4	Deconstructing the Ideal-Worker Norm in Family Entitlements	114
Part II	Unbending Gender Talk (Including Feminism)	143
Chapter 5	How Domesticity's Gender Wars Take on Elements of Class and Race Conflict	145
Chapter 6	Do Women Share an Ethic of Care?: Domesticity's Descriptions of Men and Women	177
Chapter 7	Do Women Need Special Treatment? Do Feminists Need Equality?	205
Chapter 8	The New Paradigm Theorized: Domesticity in Drag	243
	Four Themes of Conclusion	271
	Notes	277
	Index	334

Editorial Reviews

"Finally, a logical look at the work vs. family debate....Williams blends brilliant scholarship, rigorous analysis and family values in a proposal to radically change the American workplace."—The Seattle Times

"Williams would jump-start a movement with reasoned argument. Her documentation is encyclopedic and scrupulous."—The Nation

"Like The Feminine Mystique and The Second Shift, Unbending Gender could ignite a new debate over what should happen next."—Yale Law Journal

"An ambitious work and a precious accomplishment."— Women's Review of Books

"This book makes a notable contribution to the feminist literature for its eminently sensible, readable, and thoughtful look into the roots of women's disadvantage in market work...Highly recommended to readers who seek real explanations and solutions to labor market gender discrimination."—Choice

From the Publisher