The Sex of Class: Women Transforming American Labor

Women Now Comprise The Majority Of The Working Class. Yet This Fundamental Transformation Has Gone Largely Unnoticed. This Book Is About How The Sex Of Workers Matters In Understanding The Jobs They Do, The Problems They Face At Work, And The New Labor Movements They Are Creating In The United States And Globally. In The Sex Of Class, Twenty Prominent Scholars, Labor Leaders, And Policy Analysts Look At The Implication Of This Sexual Revolution For Labor Policy And Practice. The Sex Of Class Introduces Readers To Some Of The Most Vibrant And Forward-thinking Social Movements Of Our Era: The Clerical Worker Protests Of The 1970's; The Emergence Of Gay Rights On The Auto Shop Floor; The Upsurge Of Union Organizing In Service Jobs; Worker Centers And Community Unions Of Immigrant Women; Successful Campaigns For Paid Family Leave And Work Redesign; And Innovative Labor Ngos, Cross-border Alliances, And Global Labor Federations. Revealing The Animating Ideas And The Innovative Strategies Put Into Practice By The Female Leaders Of The Twenty-first-century Social Justice Movement, The Contributors To This Book Offer New Ideas For How Government Can Help Reduce Class And Sex Inequalities. They Assess The Status Of Women And Sexual Minorities Within The Traditional Labor Movement And They Provide Inspiring Case Studies Of How Women Workers And Their Allies Are Inventing New Forms Of Worker Representation And Power. Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction / Cobble, Dorothy Sue -- Part I. Women's Inequalities And Public Policy -- 1. Increasing Class Disparities Among Women And The Politics Of Gender Equity / Mccall, Leslie -- 2. More Than Raising The Floor: The Persistence Of Gender Inequalities In The Low-wage Labor Market / Lovell, Vicky / Hartmann, Heidi / Werschkul, Misha -- Part Ii. Unions And Sexual Politics -- 3. Two Worlds Of Unionism: Women And The New Labor Movement / Milkman, Ruth -- 4. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Challenge To American Labor / Hunt, Gerald / Boris, Monica Bielski -- 5. Sex Discrimination As Collective Harm / Crain, Marion -- Part Iii. Labor's Work And Family Agenda -- 6. Changing Work, Changing People: A Conversation With Union Organizers At Harvard University And The University Of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center / Savage, Lydia -- 7. Unions Fight For Work And Family Policies-not For Women Only / Firestein, Netsy / Dones, Nicola -- Part Iv. Organizing Women's Work -- 8. Working Women's Insurgent Consciousness / Nussbaum, Karen -- 9. We Were The Invisible Workforce: Unionizing Home Care / Boris, Eileen / Klein, Jennifer -- 10. Expanding Labor's Vision: The Challenges Of Workfare And Welfare Organizing / Tait, Vanessa -- 11. Worker Centers And Immigrant Women / Fine, Janice -- Part V. Local-global Connections -- 12. Female Immigrant Workers And The Law: Limits And Opportunities / Ontiveros, Maria L. -- 13. Women Crossing Borders To Organize / Quan, Katie -- 14. Representing Informal Economy Workers: Emerging Global Strategies And Their Lessons For North American Unions / Vosko, Leah F. -- References -- About The Contributors -- Index Dorothy Sue Cobble. First Printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2007. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [293]-312) And Index. English