Women, Work, and Globalization

This book examines women, work, and family from a comparative worldwide perspective. Working allows women to earn an income, acquire new skills, and forge social connections. But, it also brings challenges such as simultaneously managing domestic responsibilities and family relationships. The implications of this global transformation are explored from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book highlights the commonalities of women’s experiences as well as the differences depending on their social class, education, and geographical location in both industrialized and developing countries. Practical implications are examined along with the consequences of these changes for men. Real life vignettes and case studies bring the topics to life. The book argues that despite policy reforms and rhetoric of equality, women still have unique experiences from men both at work and at home.

Women, Work and Globalization explores:

Key issues surrounding work and families from a global cross-cultural perspective.

The positives and negatives of more women in the global workforce.

The spread of women’s empowerment on changes in ideologies and behaviors in industrialized and developing countries.

Key literature from family studies, IO, sociology, anthropology, and economics.

The changing role of men in the global work-family arena.

The impact of sexual trafficking and exploitation, care labor, and transnational migration on women.

Best practices and policies that have benefited women, men, and their families.

Part 1 reviews the research on gender in the industrialized and developing world, global changes that pertain to women’s gender roles, women’s labor market participation, globalization, and the spread of the women’s movement. Issues that pertain to women in a globalized world including gender socialization, sexual trafficking and exploitation, labor migration and transnational motherhood, and the complexities entailed in care labor are explored in part 2. Programs and policies that have effectively assisted women are explored in part 3 including initiatives instituted by NGOs and governments in developing countries and programs that help women balance work and family in industrialized countries. The book concludes with suggestions for global policies that assist women balance work and family responsibilities while decreasing their vulnerabilities.

Intended as a supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and/or graduate courses in Women/Gender Issues, Work and Family, Gender and Families, Global/International Families, Family Diversity, Multicultural Families, and Urban Sociology taught in psychology, human development and family studies, gender and/or women’s studies, business, sociology, social work, political science, and anthropology, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in these fields also appreciate this thought provoking book.