An expert guide to women's quest for fairness in the workplace, marking the great legal and social advances as well as continuing inequalities.
In the U.S., women earn three-quarters of a man's paycheck for similar work, occupy a sprinkling of executive and corporate board, and face a 40 percent chance of being sexually harassed on the job. Sadly, this represents progress. But progress it is, as key legislative and court victories, new attitudes, and more women entering the professions are gradually making the workplace more equitable.
Women and Equality in the Workplace: A Reference Handbook is an expert overview of the issues of gender equity in the workplace as they have evolved from World War II to the present. Focusing primarily on the United States, while drawing broad contrasts with nations around the world, the book describes the practical impact of laws and social policies developed to combat the many forms of sex discrimination, as well as the legal remedies of equal pay law, affirmative action, and comparable worth.
Women and Equality in the Workplace also reviews current sociological and economic theories as to why, despite the notable progress, men continue to have better pay and benefits, higher status, and more opportunities, while working women are still all too often harassed, stigmatized, and overlooked.
Features
• A detailed chronology, statistics and legal cases, list of relevant organizations, bibliography, and nonprint resources
• A timeline of major developments, biographies of women pioneers, and information about organizations and academic programs devoted to women's studies and equal rights
Highlights
• Provides recent statistics on women's employment, divisions in occupations between genders, sex differentials in earnings, educational levels of men and women, division of home work and child care duties by gender, prevalence of discrimination and sexual harassment, and changes in family demographics
• Highlights the lives of outstanding individuals who have broken the gender barrier in law, politics, sports, and the academic world
• Explores how gender equity varies by race and ethnicity
Janet Z. Giele is professor of sociology and women's studies at the Heller School of Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. Her published works include, Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism and Women and the Future: Changing Sex Roles in Modern America. She has also edited several anthologies on changing gender and life course patterns around the world.
Leslie F. Stebbins is a reference librarian at the Brandeis University Libraries and serves as liaison to the Department of Sociology at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. Her published works include ABC-CLIO's Work and Family in America: A Reference Handbook.
Reviews
"Overall, this is an important and well-organized book on a critical topic. Students and interested general readers will find it an excellent overview of the issues and debates."—American Reference Books Annual
"... a useful starting point for exploring the topics and available source material on gender employment equality. ... Recommended. General readers and undergraduate collections."—Choice
"...This work provides a historical perspective of how the position of women in the workplace has changed since 1945 ... The work concludes with a glossary and an index. This volume would be a good place for high school and undergraduate students to begin their research on employment rights and women’s rights in the workplace."—American Reference Books Annual
"This is useful for students looking for a graduate school where they can study gender and socioeconomic factors in an international context."—Feminist Collections
