A mother's work : how feminism, the market, and policy shape family life / Neil Gilbert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gilbert, Neil, 1940-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working mothers--United States.

Working mothers.

Work and family--United States.

Work and family.

Women in the professions--United States.

Women in the professions.

Family policy--United States.

Family policy.

Feminist theory--United States.

Feminist theory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The question of how best to combine work and family life has led to lively debates in recent years. Both a lifestyle and a policy issue, it has been addressed psychologically, socially, and economically, and conclusions have been hotly contested. But as Neil Gilbert shows in this penetrating and provocative book, we haven't looked closely enough at how and why these questions are framed, or who benefits from the proposed answers. A Mother's Work takes a hard look at the unprecedented rise in childlessness, along with the outsourcing of family care and household production, which have helped to alter family life since the 1960's. It challenges the conventional view on how to balance motherhood and employment, and examines how the choices women make are influenced by the culture of capitalism, feminist expectations, and the social policies of the welfare state. Gilbert argues that while the market ignores the essential value of a mother's work, prevailing norms about the social benefits of work have been overvalued by elites whose opportunities and circumstances little resemble those of most working- and middle-class mothers. And the policies that have been crafted too often seem friendlier to the market than to the family. Gilbert ends his discussion by looking at the issue internationally, and he makes the case for reframing the debate to include a wider range of social values and public benefits that present more options for managing work and family responsibilities.

Contents:

The social context : motherhood in decline?

Work and family : the choices women make

Capitalism and motherhood : does it pay to have children?

Feminist expectations : who suffers from the problem that has no name?

How family friendly are family-friendly policies?

Rethinking family policy.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-217) and index.

ISBN:

9786612351686

9781282351684

1282351680

9780300145090

0300145098

OCLC:

994599898