Women, Work, and Families

This study of 30 mothers looks at the varying ways women balance work and family life. It is carried out through intensive interviews and the data is examined from several theoretical standpoints, including structural theory, motherhood theory, and feminist theory. A supplemental text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in Family Studies Programs and Women′s Studies programs.

Women, Work, and Family: Balancing and Weaving is a fascinating examination of the extraordinary juggling skills of working mothers who balance their obligations to both work and family. Angela Hattery goes beyond a mere description of women′s conflicts of interest and seeks to understand the decision-making process through which they accomplish this balancing.

Through intensive interviews with 30 married women, all with children under 2 years of age, Hattery uncovers a remarkable range of ways in which these women weave together the complex strands of their lives. The data in the volume are examined from a number of theoretical standpoints, including structural theory, motherhood theory, and feminist theory. A key variable that runs through the data is economic need, which has an obvious effect on work patterns. Women, Work, and Family will make a major contribution to family studies and will illuminate the difficult choices that women make within the family/work context.