This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

 

Readings

Required Readings

Buy at Amazon Albelda, Randy, and Chris Tilly. Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780896085657.

Buy at Amazon Fried, Mindy. Taking Time: Parental Leave Policy and Corporate Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781566396479.

Buy at Amazon Neely, Barbara. Blanche on the Lam. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1992. ISBN: 9780312069087.

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
Part I: Work In America: Setting the Context
1 Introduction: Economic and Political Context Film: Rosie the Riveter.
2

Historical Background: How Did We Get Here?

Theoretical Perspectives on Gender and Race

Historical Background: How Did We Get Here?

Buy at Amazon Amott, Teresa, and Julie Matthei. "Whatever Your Fight, Don't Be Ladylike" (Chapter 5), and "We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible" (Chapter 6). In Race, Gender, and Work: A Multicultural Economic History of Women in the United States. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780896085374.

Theoretical Perspectives on Gender and Race

Collins, Hill Patricia. "Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection." Race, Sex & Class 1, no. 1 (1993): 25-45. Originally published as a research paper by the Center for Research on Women at Memphis State University in 1989.

Buy at Amazon Connell, R. W. "Sex Role Theory." In Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780745604688.

Buy at Amazon West, Candace, and Don Zimmerman. "Doing Gender." In The Social Construction of Gender. Edited by Lorber, and Farrell. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1990. ISBN: 9780803939578.

Play Reading: Buy at Amazon Daniel, Sarah. Gut Girls. New York, NY: S. French, 1998. ISBN: 9780573694714.

Part II: Gender, Work and Family
3 Gender Strategies to Balance Work and Family

Buy at Amazon Hochschild. The Second Shift. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2003. ISBN: 9780142002926. (Excerpt)

Buy at Amazon Chira, Susan. "Drum Beat." In A Mothers Place: Talking the Debate About Working Mothers Beyond Guilt and Blame. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998. ISBN: 9780060173272.

Audio: The Connection: The War Over Working Mothers.

4 The Squeeze at the Bottom: Poor Women and Families in the U.S.

Albelda, Randy, and Chris Tilly. Chapters 1-5 in Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's poverty.

Buy at Amazon Neely, Barbara. Blanche on the Lam. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN: 9780140174397.

Buy at Amazon Murray, Charles. "'White Popular Wisdom': Losing Ground." In From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America. Edited by Ronald Tataki. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780195083682.

Part III: Gender, Work and Family Policy
5 Structural Inequities in the Labor Force

Buy at Amazon England, Paula. "Sex Gap in Pay." In Workplace/Women's Place. Edited by Dana Dunn and Paula Dubeck. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury, 2002. ISBN: 9781891487514.

Buy at Amazon Higgenbotham, Elizabeth. "Black Professional Women: Job Ceilings and Employment Sectors." In Workplace/Women's Place. Edited by Dana Dunn and Paula Dubeck. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury, 2002. ISBN: 9781891487514.

Buy at Amazon Reskin, Barbara. "Pharmacy" (Chapter 5), "Bank Management" (Chapter 7), "Systems Analysts" (Chapter 8), and "Bartending" (Chapter 12). In Job Queues, Gender Queues. Part I. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780877227441.

Buy at Amazon Hanson, S., and G. Pratt. "Employer Practices, Local Labor Markets and Occupational Segregation." Chapter 6 in Gender, Work and Space. London, UK and New York, NY: Routledge, 1995. ISBN: 9780415099417.

Films: The Occupation: A Film About the Harvard Living Wage Sit-In.

6 Government Policy

Buy at Amazon Nelson, B. "The Origins of the Two-Channel Welfare State: Workmen's Compensation and Mother's Aid." Chapter 5 in Women, the State and Welfare. Edited by L. Gordon. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780299126605.

Grossman, et. al. "Family Policy in Massachusetts: A Call to Action." Journal of Progressive Human Services 2, no. 1 (1991).

Misra, Joya. "Mothers or Workers? The Value of Women's Labor: Women and the Emergence of Family Allowance Policy." Gender and Society 12, no. 4 (August 1998).

Albelda, and Tilly. Chapters 6 and 7 in Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty.

Part IV: In the Workplace and the Labor Markets
7 Macro to Micro: Intersection of Race and Gender in the Workplace

Buy at Amazon Burnham, Margaret. "The Supreme Court Appointment Process and the Politics of Race and Sex." In Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality. Edited by Toni Morrison. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1992. ISBN: 9780679741459.

Film: Strange Justice.

8 Contested Solutions: Comparable Worth and Affirmative Action  
9

9a. Comparable Worth

9b. Affirmative Action

Panel Presentation: Addressing Race and Gender Issues in Nonprofit Organizations

9a. Comparable Worth

Buy at Amazon Amott, and Matthei. "Comparable Worth, Incomparable Pay." In RadicalAmerica. September-October 1984. Reprinted in: For Crying Out Loud: Women and Poverty in the U.S.A. Edited by Rochelle Lefkowitz, and Ann Withorn. New York, NY: Pilgrim Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780829805819. Also reprinted in: Buy at Amazon Feminist Philosophies. Edited by Janet A. Kourany, James P. Sterba, and Rosemarie Tong. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1992. ISBN: 9780133135602.

Buy at Amazon Blum. "Possibilities and Limits of Comparable Worth." In Workplace/Women's Place. Edited by Dana Dunn. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury, 1998. ISBN: 9780935732818.

Buy at Amazon Blum, Linda M. "Tough Politics: The Comparable Worth Movement." In Between Feminism and Labor: The Significance of The Comparable Worth Movement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780520072596.

Simulated role play: Public hearing on comparable worth, with city officials hearing testimony from group of advocates for comparable worth legislation.

9b. Affirmative Action

Buy at Amazon Farley, John. "What is Affirmative Action?" In The Future of Majority-Minority Relations in the United States. Oakland, CA: Institute for Contemporary Studies, 1988. ISBN: 9780135456255.

Buy at Amazon Yates, Steven. "Civil Wrongs." Excerpt in Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong with Affirmative Action. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994. ISBN: 9781558152922.

Buy at Amazon Berry, Mary Frances. "Affirmative Action: Why we need it, why it is under attack." In The Affirmative Action Debate. Edited by George Curry and Cornel West. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 1996. ISBN: 9780201479638.

Buy at Amazon Reskin, Barbara. "The Effects of Affirmative Action on Other Stakeholders," and "Conclusion and Policy Implications." In The Realities of Affirmative Action in Employment. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association (ASA), 1998. ISBN: 9780912764368.

Part V: Domestic and European Work/Family Policies: The Responsibility of Government, Private Sector or Individuals?
10 Child Care Policy: Field Trip to State House with Marta Rosa, Early Care and Education Specialist

Casper, L. M. "Who's Minding Our Preschoolers?" Current Population Report, Series P 70-62.

Child Care.

Hofferth, S., and D. Wissoker. "Price, Quality and Income in Child Care Choice." Journal of Human Resources 27, no. 1: 70-111.

Buy at Amazon Joffee, C., and Irene Diamond. "Why the United States Has No Child Care Policy." In Families, Politics and Public Policy: A Feminist Dialogue on Women and the State. New York, NY: Longman, 1983. ISBN: 9780582282681.

11 Leave Policies and Policies That Address Overwork

Fried, Mindy. Taking Time: Parental Leave Policy and Corporate Culture.

Buy at Amazon Jacobs, Jerry, and Kathleen Gerson. "Do Americans Feel Overworked?: Comparing Ideal and Actual Working Time." In Work and Family: Research Informing Policy. Edited by Toby Parcel and Daniel Cornfield. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999. ISBN: 9780761913085.

Golden, Lonnie. "Flexible Schedules: Who Gets Them and What are Workers Giving Up to Get Them?" Working Paper 00-04. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University.

Part VI: Work in the 21st Century
12 Work in the 21st Century: Pressure Points for Change