1st Edition
Women and the State The Shifting Boundaries of Public and Private
In the late 1980s, despite the fact that the vast majority of women now had a dual role – in paid work and in the domestic realm – the world of work, the welfare state, and the domestic sphere were all still organized as though women’s place were primarily in the home. Though this contradiction most directly affected women, it had implications for the lives of both sexes, and in a much wider social context.
Women’s changing role had paralleled a major restructuring of the economy but the importance of these changes was barely reflected in contemporary political discussions, or in political science or social policy literature.
In this title, originally published in 1987, articles from women in Italy, France, Denmark, Norway, the US and Britain bring the issues sharply into focus. Applying fresh perspectives, they widen and enrich the debate. This book marks a powerful contribution to a new and more realistic assessment of women’s dual role in the state and the economy which should be read by all those concerned with the development of women’s issues and with women’s studies.
Acknowledgements. List of Contributors. Introduction Part 1: The Modern State and Contemporary Society – New Insights and New Contradictions 1. Crazy Quilts: Rethinking the Welfare State Debate from a Woman’s Point of View Laura Balbo 2. Women and the Welfare State: The Transition from Private to Public Dependence Helga Maria Hernes 3. Confusing Concepts – Confusing Reality: A Theoretical Discussion of the Patriarchal State Drude Dahlerup 4. Women and the Advanced Welfare State – A New Kind of Patriarchal Power? Anette Borchorst and Birte Siim 5. Women’s New Social Role: Contradictions of the Welfare State Anne Showstack Sassoon Part 2: Inside and Outside the Home: Women’s Experience and the Transformation of Public and Private 6. Division of Family Labour and Gender Identity Chiara Saraceno 7. On the Rationality of Caring Kari Waerness 8. The Circular Trap: Women and Part-Time Work Vicki Smith 9. Between Public and Private: The Birth of the Professional Housewife and the Female Consumer Gabriella Turnaturi 10. Inside and Outside the Home: How Our Lives Have Changed through Domestic Automation Hélène Strohl. Index
Biography
Sassoon, Anne Showstack
