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

Joan Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0195147146 | ISBN-13: 978-0195147148

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this theoretically sophisticated and thoroughly accessible treatise on gender, work and domesticity, Williams offers a new vision of "family-friendly" feminism that would support women in all the various roles on the worker-caregiver continuum. With special attention to the diversity of women's experience in terms of race and social class, this book challenges common assumptions about gender roles and women's choices concerning work, family and career. Arguing that the liberal feminist ideal of full equality in the workforce and the anti-feminist call to full-time domesticity do not represent a satisfactory range of options, Williams, who is the co-director of the Gender, Work and Family Project at the American University Law School, says that the time is ripe to acknowledge the "norm of parental care," and work to develop flexible employment policies that will mitigate the stresses of the work/family dilemma. The title of the book refers to the way in which our social and domestic patterns have proven more resistant to alteration than feminists had hoped, largely due to the powerful social forces that support conventional gender roles, particularly common expectations about mothers and caregiving. Williams proposes a major shift in feminist strategy, focusing on the needs of diverse families, broad recognition of the value of domestic work and an expansion of the limited scheduling options available to women and men in the workplace. Of interest to feminists, working women and caregivers as well as policy makers, this groundbreaking study presents an important new perspective on this evolving discourse. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (September 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195147146
• ISBN-13: 978-0195147148
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Law > Legal Theory & Systems > Gender & the Law
  • #32 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Parenting & Families

More About the Author

Called "something of a rock star" in her field by The New York Times Magazine, Joan C. Williams is a prize-winning author and expert on work/family issues. Her book, Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter (Harvard University Press) will be published in October 2010. Her previous book, Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000), won the 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

Founding Director of WorkLife Law and the Project for Attorney Retention, Joan Williams is Distinguished Professor and 1066 Foundation Chair at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She has played a leading role in documenting workplace bias against mothers. Her "Beyond the Maternal Wall: Relief for Family Caregivers Who Are Discriminated Against on the Job," 26 Harvard Women's Law Review 77 (2003), (co-authored with Nancy Segal), was prominently cited in Back v. Hastings on Hudson Union Free School District, 2004 U.S. App. Lexis 6684 (2d Cir. April 7, 2004) and in the EEOC's 2007 Guidance on Caregiver Discrimination.

She also has organized social scientists to document maternal wall bias, notably in a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues (2004), co-edited with Monica Biernat and Faye Crosby, which won the Distinguished Publication Award by the Association of Women in Psychology. More recently her focus is on documenting how work-family conflict plays out differently across class, in One Sick Child Away From Being Fired: When Opting Out is Not an Option (2006), and The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict (2010)(the latter co-written with Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress).

For more information about WorkLife Law, log onto www.worklifelaw.org.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Williams' Hits the Nail On The Head January 11, 2000

By Katharine Dunn

Format:Hardcover

This is a book for anyone who has struggled to mesh their work, their family, and their personal growth and development into one life that is balanced, fulfilling and just plain fun. Joan Williams says what we all feel, but fear: the way things are right now, the deck is stacked against all of us: men, women, and children. But as "Unbending Gender" so clearly illustrates, there is a solution well within our grasp. We can redefine our priorities and our idea of success. We can implement public policy that allows all of us to become vital and productive members of our communities. We can bridge the gap between a successful work life and a successful family life. All it takes is imagination...and will.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for every woman lawyer April 6, 2000

By Ellen Ostrow

Format:Hardcover

Joan Williams scholarly, thorough, and accessible book is a must-read for every woman lawyer (and working woman) struggling to balance work and family. Each time I've recommended it to one of the women attorneys I coach I've seen their perspective transformed. They stop blaming themselves for their difficulties juggling their many life roles - suddenly they understand that they're facing a system which makes it impossible to do everything well. Williams' treatise on the issues most central to working women is thought-provoking and a provides a useful framework for understanding why balance is so hard to achieve and how we might go about changing ourselves and our workplaces.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A New perspective on work and family roles. April 20, 2000

By maria levinson,MA

Format:Hardcover

This splended book must be read by everyone trying to understand and remedy the strains on the contemporary family and to redirect the movement towards gender equality.While the majority of women with children are now employed outside the home, most "good jobs", from blue collar through corporate executive are still designed around men's bodies and "breadwinners'" ability to spend endless hours and energy on the job because they receive a constant flow of services from a partner. That partner, who may or may not be employed outside the home, does most of the family work but is "marginalized", that is, paid at a lower rate, and has lower status and power in the work world and in the family. This organization of market work and family work penalizes men, women and children. Reform requires re-organization of our work world, redefinition of our gender roles and a shift in the way society values and rewards family work, part time work and part time careers. The book is based on a wealth of new research and is a must for academics, policy makers, feminists and other activists working for a better society.