Women's Work: How Mothers Manage Flexible Working in Careers and Family Life

by Zoe Young

Overview

Shortlisted for the BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize 2019. What’s it really like to be a mother with a career working flexibly? Drawing on over 100 hours of interview data, this book is the first to go inside women’s work and family lives in a year of working flexibly. The private labours of going part-time, job sharing, and home working are brought to life with vivid personal stories. Taking a sociological and feminist perspective, it explores contemporary motherhood, work-life balance, emotional work in families, couples and housework, maternity transitions, interactions with employers, work design and workplace cultures, and employment policies. It concludes that there is an opportunity to make employment and family life work better together and offers unique insights from women’s lived experiences on how to do it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529202038
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2018
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Zoe Young is an organisational sociologist, writer and consultant. She researches gender, work and organisation with a particular focus on women in leadership and management. Zoe founded the consultancy Half the Sky to put research into practice and make an impact on equality. Her PhD is from the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Preface viii

1 Women in the Middle 1

2 Choosing Flexibility 35

3 Seeking Balance 57

4 Compromised Choices 83

5 Doing Flexibility 99

6 Feeling Flexibility 121

7 Stresses and Successes 139

8 Making Motherhood, Careers and Flexibility Work 159

Appendices 179

Bibliography 189

Index 215

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

‘’A new insight into the complexities of modern life and the impact this has on women's careers, their families and relationships. Zoe Young provides a progressive approach to thinking about agile working and how to shift societal and corporate constructs that can limit progress.’’ Uzma Hamid-Dizier, Slaughter and May

"Women's Work is in the very best tradition of policy-relevant social science research. Zoe Young's thoughtful and sensitive exploration enmeshes us skilfully in the everyday struggles and impressive resilience of women’s lives." Ann Oakley, UniversityCollege London Institute of Education

"A vivid account of the trials and tribulations of professional mothers who aim to combine caring responsibilities with paid employment while desperately trying to cling onto their middle class dreams." Elisabeth Kelan, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University

"I've been juggling paid work and caring for children for over 25 years, so this book speaks to me in a big way. What I've learned is that there is no single way to do it but there are some gems of wisdom which we can pass on and this is what Women's Work does so effectively." Sam Smethers, Chief Executive of Fawcett Society

"Incredibly useful to empathise with real Mums succeeding in real jobs as well as to garner very practical insights based on real evidence." Stephen Frost, f(i) and author "The Inclusive Imperative."