Reconciling Work and the Family

Many women are confronted each day with the problem of trying to reconcile their employment and family commitments. The ongoing discussion of this problem shows that satisfactory solutions have not yet been discovered. A period of leave from paid employment on the birth of a child has for many years been portrayed as a means to resolve this dilemma. Using longitudinal methods and a life-course approach, this book examines how changing leave regulations and occupational opportunity structures have affected when, where and how long women in Germany work. Policy makers' continued failure to address the underlying issue of the division of paid and care work between women and men as social groups has cemented traditional gender relations and not solved the problem of reconciliation.

Autorentext

The Author: Katherine Bird was born in Leeds. After gaining a degree in business studies in London she worked for a publisher of comics. She moved to Germany in 1991, and studied sociology in Bremen. Since 1997 she has worked as a researcher at the University of Bremen.

Inhalt

Contents: Gender Relations and the Life Course - Political, Legal, and Cultural Norm for Motherhood and Women's Work - Event History Analysis - An Occupation's Retentive Power - Employment Patterns after Childbirth.