Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Williams, Joan, PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, ong>Inong> Unbendong>inong>g Gender, Joan Williams takes a hard look at the state of femong>inong>ism ong>inong> America. Concerned by what she fong>inong>ds--young women who flatly refuse to identify themselves as femong>inong>ists and workong>inong>g-class and mong>inong>ority women who feel the movement hasn't addressed the issues that domong>inong>ate their daily lives--she outlong>inong>es a new vision of femong>inong>ism that calls for workplaces focused on the needs of families and, ong>inong> divorce cases, recognition of the value of family work and its impact on women's earnong>inong>g power. Williams shows that workplaces are designed around men's bodies and life patterns ong>inong> ways that discrimong>inong>ate agaong>inong>st 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 ong>inong>itiatives to reorganize the two realms of work ong>inong> employment and households--so that men and women can lead healthier and more productive personal and work lives. Williams ong>inong>troduces a new 'reconstructive' femong>inong>ism that places class, race, and gender conflicts among women at center stage. Her solution is an ong>inong>clusive, family-friendly femong>inong>ism that supports both mothers and fathers as caregivers and as workers.