Women and Men at Work (Sociology for a New Century) [Paperback]

Irene Padavic (Author), Barbara Reskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2002 | ISBN-10: 076198710X | ISBN-13: 978-0761987109 | Edition: 2nd

The Second Edition of this best selling book provides a comprehensive examination of the role that gender plays in work environments. This book differs from others by comparing women’s and men’s work status, addressing contemporary issues within a historical perspective, incorporating comparative material from other countries, recognizing differences in the experiences of women and men from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Relying on both qualitative and quantitative data, the authors seek to link social scientific ideas about workers’ lives, sex inequality, and gender to the real-world workplace. This new edition contains updated statistics, timely cartoons, and presents new scholarship in the field. It also provides a renewed focus on reasons for variability in inequality across workplaces. In sum, the second edition of Women and Men at Work presents a contemporary perspective to the field, with relevant comparative and historical insights that will draw readers in and connect them to the wider concern of making sense of our dramatically changing world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Barbara Reskin is a Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and, when this book went to press, President of the American Sociological Association. As a student, she supported herself in a series of female-dominated clerical jobs in such disparate settings as radio and TV stations, trucking firms, temp agencies, insurance companies, and universities. The fact that most jobs for women were boring, low-paid and deadend encouraged her to get a PhD. Her research examines how workers’ sex, race, and ethnicity affect their work opportunities. She is especially interested in strategies that minimize discrimination, the focus of her most recent book, The Realities of Affirmative Action.  

Irene Padavic is an Associate Professor at Florida State University. Before becoming a professor, she worked in a variety of service-sector jobs: candy seller at a movie theater, waitperson, telephone solicitor, door-to-door promoter of real estate, paralegal, and marketing researcher. Her dissertation project provided experience in the industrial sector, where she worked as a coal-handler in a power plant. Her research has been in the areas of gender and work, race differences in campus peer culture, economic restructuring, and changes in childcare arrangements.  

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 2nd edition (July 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076198710X
• ISBN-13: 978-0761987109
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A More than Suitable Introduction to Gender Inequality, April 11, 2008

By 

J. Patterson "Illumiere" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women and Men at Work (Sociology for a New Century) (Paperback)

While I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is an authoritative text on gender inequality, this text does an excellent job of outlining not only what work and gender are in a Sociological context, but also how gender has been perceived in society. These perceptions, according to the text, affect how women are raised, paid, and in general, what is expected of women. To a lesser extent, there is also an emphasis on trends regarding women in the workplace, both good and bad.

This text has done a good job of remaining neutral of perspectives such as feminism and the critical-conflict paradigm; the only concern is information in this text, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions or to do further research about how to solve these issues.

If you are looking for solutions to gender inequality in the workplace, I would instead encourage one to do further reading on applying non-discrimination policies and pro-diversity initiatives (which not only focus on gender inequality, but race inequality as well).

4.0 out of 5 stars It was a little outdated feeling..., June 22, 2011

By 

Nicole (Upstate, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Women and Men at Work (Sociology for a New Century) (Paperback)

Some of the points made irritated me simply because they are not as relateable as they would have been to society in the 1970's. Of course there are many great points, so for a textbook of sorts, it was interesting enough.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting information, September 16, 2009

By 

KMF (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women and Men at Work (Sociology for a New Century) (Paperback)

I used this book while taking a Women and gender studies class as an undergraduate student. I found the text interesting, but fairly dry. It's not a cover-to-cover read, but instead it's one of those texts that you read maybe five-seven of the total chapters - whichever topics interest you most.