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  • Textbook
  • © 1999

Gender and Power in the Workplace

Analysing the Impact of Economic Change

Authors:

  1. Harriet Bradley
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  • Reputation of author as an engaging and insightful writer
    Gender and work are both core areas of the sociology curriculum and also central to management and organisation studies degrees
    Exemplary clarity of writing with lively use of quotes from interviewees

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Harriet Bradley
    Pages 1-11

  4. Theorizing Change: Class, Gender and Power

    • Harriet Bradley
    Pages 20-37

  10. Sisters are Doing It…? Women in the Union

    • Harriet Bradley
    Pages 161-188

  11. Class, Gender and Power

    • Harriet Bradley
    Pages 189-208

  12. Conclusion: Feminization and Globalization

    • Harriet Bradley
    Pages 209-226

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 227-250
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About this book

After over two decades of feminist campaigning, why is it that men are still paid more than women and established patterns of gender segregation persist? Are the feminization of the labour force and the rise of dual-earning couples radically affecting the sexual division of labour in the home and at work? What roles are played by trade unions in promoting equality between the sexes? And if women are finally breaking through 'glass ceilings', is it at the expense of men?

This important new textbook explores these questions using original material from interviews with female and male employees in five case-study organizations. The author develops a new approach to power, in terms of a range of resources which are used by women to challenge male domination and by men to resist women's encroachment. This approach is used to unpack the complexities of power relations of gender and class as they are played out in the everyday lives of working people. The interaction of class and gender is also explored at the societal level, in terms of increased global competition, feminization and the development of a 'climate of equality' fostered by Equal Opportunities programmes. Women's expectations are increasing, leading them to compete with men for promotion and career advancement; but this is taking place in the context of increasing insecurity, anxiety and work intensification for all employees, especially those in public-sector organizations.

Gender and Power in the Workplace makes a major contribution to the sociological analysis of power and to our understanding of how processes of gendering are played out in the sphere of employment.

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Keywords

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About the author

HARRIET BRADLEY is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Bristol, having previously taught at Sunderland and Durham. Her research interests include women's work and employment, trade unions and labour history, social inequalities and gender. She is author of Men's Work, Women's Work and Fractured Identities.
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Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Gender and Power in the Workplace

  • Book Subtitle: Analysing the Impact of Economic Change

  • Authors: Harriet Bradley

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27050-7

  • Publisher: Red Globe Press London

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Harriet Bradley 1999

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 264

  • Additional Information: Previously published under the imprint Palgrave

  • Topics: Gender Studies

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