Working lives : gender, migration and employment in Britain, 1945-2007 / Linda McDowell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McDowell, Linda, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women foreign workers--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Women foreign workers.

Women immigrants--Employment--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Women immigrants.

Women immigrants--Great Britain--Social conditions--20th century.

Emigration and immigration.

History.

Social aspects.

Social conditions.

Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--Social aspects--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--Economic aspects--History--20th century.

Great Britain--Economic conditions--20th century.

Economic conditions.

Great Britain--Social conditions--1945-.

Physical Description:

xiv, 279 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chichester, West Sussex : John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2013.

Summary:

Based on unique and compelling insights into the working lives of migrant women in the UK, this book explores the changing nature of women's employment in post-war Britain. Seen through the eyes of those arriving and seeking work since 1945, the author's analysis of working patterns is based on many hours of interviews with female textile workers, hospital domestics, nurses, automotive workers, photo print packers, bankers, doctors, cleaners, nannies and agricultural workers. The volume uses these first-hand accounts to track social changes in the UK up to 2007, combining theory and analysis of empirical data to provide a cogent analysis of the characteristics of the labour market in contemporary Britain. Linda McDowell sets the vivid details of women's lives in the context of far-reaching changes in the country's employment landscape and immigrant regulatory framework since World War II. Deploying fresh information gleaned from oral history accumulated over two decades of research, the book is a fascinating survey of the origins of Britain's ethnically diverse population that fuses sociological and geographical analysis to demonstrate how migrant women are viewed by society as suitable workers for particular types of jobs. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter1 leaving home: migration and working lives

Gendering labour geographies and histories

The transformation of Britain

Post-war reconstruction, 1945-1951

Coming home: the heart of empire, 1948-1968

Years of struggle, 1968-1979

Privilege and inequality, 1979-1997

Back to the future: diversity and precarious labour, 1997-2007

Full circle, 1945-2007.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [232]-252) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: McDowell, Linda, 1949- Working lives

ISBN:

9781444339192

1444339192

9781444339185

1444339184

OCLC:

824119622