A bold dive into the emotional labor women have shouldered for far too long—and an impassioned vision for creating a better future for us all. Day in, day out, women anticipate and manage the needs of others. In relationships, we initiate the hard conversations. At home, we shoulder the mental load required to keep our households running. At work, we moderate our tone, explaining patiently and speaking softly. In the world, we step gingerly to keep ourselves safe. We do this largely invisible, draining work whether we want to or not—and we never clock out. No wonder women everywhere are overtaxed, exhausted, and simply fed up. In her ultra-viral article “Women Aren’t Nags—We’re Just Fed Up,” shared by millions of readers, Gemma Hartley gave much-needed voice to the frustration and anger experienced by countless women. Now, in Fed Up, Hartley expands outward from the everyday frustrations of performing thankless emotional labor to illuminate how the expectation to do this work in all arenas—private and public—fuels gender inequality, limits our opportunities, steals our time, and adversely affects the quality of our lives. More than just name the problem, though, Hartley teases apart the cultural messaging that has led us here and asks how we can shift the load. Rejecting easy solutions that don’t ultimately move the needle, Hartley offers a nuanced, insightful guide to striking real balance, for true partnership in every aspect of our lives. Reframing emotional labor not as a problem to be overcome, but as a genderless virtue men and women can all learn to channel in our quest to make a better, more egalitarian world, Fed Up is surprising, intelligent, and empathetic essential reading for every woman who has had enough with feeling fed up.

Chronicling the lives and career choices of a dynamic group of women, this book provides a comprehensive and unique glimpse into the intricate balance of work and family. Women's Employment and Homemaking Careers is based on three surveys, the first conducted while the women were attending university, and the second and third conducted one and two decades later. The surveys provide quantitative data that supplements the qualitative material gained from final interviews conducted at the end of the 25 year longitudinal study. The book is based on two comparisons - the first examines how women change in the quarter century following university and the second compares the lifestyle choices of career women, homemakers, part-time employees and entrepreneurs -- and uses those comparisons to build in-depth analyses of the pivotal importance of women's employment and family decisions. Cherlyn Granrose interprets her findings using lifespan development, decision-making and gender role theories, and then outlines lessons for women, their counselors and employers as well as for other scholars. Women learn there are many different means by which to create satisfying family and working lives; employers learn the importance of positive supervision and flexible family support policies; and scholars learn the necessity of using multiple methods and perspectives to understand the complexity of modern women's lives.Scholars and students of sociology, psychology, business and women's studies will find this volume as informative as they will find it interesting.

Women's employment is one of the most widely-discussed and often-misunderstood issues of modern society. Are women today oppressed, or do they have the best of both worlds? Do women have to go out to work to gain equality with men, or do they already do more than their share of domestic work, caring work and voluntary work as well as work in the informal economy? Do women seek careers on the same terms as men, or are they content to be dependent wives or secondary earners taking jobs on a short-term basis? How important is job segregation in explaining the 20% pay gap between men and women? Have equal opportunities laws had any real impact? Are women in Europe lagging behind, or are they at the forefront of developments in modern societies? This new updated edition of Catherine Hakim's classic text addresses all the key issues currently debated in relation to women's work - in the domestic sphere, as well as paid employment. Dr Hakim tests the power of patriarchy theory and preference theory against economic theories. Sex discrimination, work-life balance, part-time work, flexible hours, homeworking, career patterns across the life cycle, labour mobility, labour turnover, the returns to education, occupational segregation, the pay gap, the glass ceiling, and the impact of European Union policies are all considered. Analysis of historical developments over the twentieth century, based on censuses, is complemented by case studies of people working in occupations undergoing dramatic change. Throughout the book, comparisons are drawn between the USA, Britain, other European countries, Canada, Australia, and also China, Japan and other Far Eastern societies. The analysis draws on sociology, economics, psychology, labour law, history and social anthropology to conclude that the diversity of women's life goals and lifestyle preferences is increasing. This explains the growing polarisation of women's employment and many contradictory recent research results.

Originally published in 1980, women in the United Kingdom exhibited a pattern of work which was notably different from that in other countries of the EEC at the time. Its distinguishing feature was the high proportion of women who returned to work by the time they were forty years of age, having temporarily retired to care for young families. Although this pattern was of fairly recent origin, it was thought likely to be sustained. Women’s current life pattern was typically: school – training – work – withdrawal – retirement. Despite the existence of this pattern, agencies responsible for education, training and employment failed to recognise it as normal, often treating women as special cases. Thus there was a lack of flexibility in employment and insufficient retraining or part-time work. The problem was important both for qualified women who had made a considerable personal investment in a career, and for the nation in terms of effective manpower utilisation. The skills required in many occupations traditionally entered by women are either learnt on the job or by means of relatively short formal training courses. This book, however, examines in some depth seven careers which require a minimum of three years’ training. After a foreword by Baroness Nancy Seear and a chapter which introduces the concept of the ‘bimodal’ career and the consequent problems of withdrawal and re-entry, each chapter is written by an author who has conducted original research into the occupation under discussion, and specifically into women’s personal experiences in that particular calling. A concluding chapter considers the implications of the findings both for the individuals concerned and for social policy.

Get your home and your heart in order in just 31 days! Sarah Mae wants to let you in on a little secret about being a good homemaker: It’s not about having a clean house. She’d never claim to be a natural, organized cleaner herself—yet, like you, she wants a beautiful space to call home, a place where people feel loved and at peace. Where people can really settle in with good food, comfy pillows, and wide-open hearts. Is it possible to find a balance? To care for your heart—and your home—at the same time? Journey with Sarah Mae on this easy, practical 31-day plan to get you moving and have your house looking and feeling fresh. But even more than that, you’ll gain a new vision for the home of your dreams, and how to make it a place of peace, comfort, and community. Originally published as the e-book 31 Days to Clean and now revised and expanded in print for the first time, Having a Martha Home the Mary Way will inspire you to find a happier, healthier . . . cleaner way to live.

What do women want? The same thing men were promised in the Declaration of Independence: happiness, or at least the freedom to pursue it. For women, though, pursuing happiness is a complicated endeavor, and if you head out into America and talk to women one-on-one, as Jill Filipovic has done, you'll see that happiness is indelibly shaped by the constraints of gender, the expectations of feminine sacrifice, and the myriad ways that womanhood itself differs along lines of race, class, location, and identity. In The H-Spot, Filipovic argues that the main obstacle standing in-between women and happiness is a rigged system. In this world of unfinished feminism, men have long been able to "have it all" because of free female labor, while the bar of achievement for women has only gotten higher. Never before have women at every economic level had to work so much (whether it's to be an accomplished white-collar employee or just make ends meet). Never before have the standards of feminine perfection been so high. And never before have the requirements for being a "good mother" been so extreme. If our laws and policies made women's happiness and fulfillment a goal in and of itself, Filipovic contends, many of our country's most contentious political issues -- from reproductive rights to equal pay to welfare spending -- would swiftly be resolved. Filipovic argues that it is more important than ever to prioritize women's happiness-and that doing so will make men's lives better, too. Here, she provides an outline for a feminist movement we all need and a blueprint for how policy, laws, and society can deliver on the promise of the pursuit of happiness for all.

In the last few years I've read rants against the evils of feminism from some of the top Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian leaders who blame women wanting to go to work, go into ministry, and be equals to their husbands for all the social ills happening in our country. If women would just stay home divorce rates would plummet, no abortions would happen, public schools wouldn't be in trouble, and all the world's ills would come to an end. There's just one little problem: Does the Bible really say all of that? What You Didn't Learn in Sunday School will introduce you to women in the Bible who: Were religious leaders. Disobeyed their husbands to obey Godde. Had careers. Made their own decisions. And guess what? The world did not end. Eight verses have been used to make women second-class citizens, and at times, virtual slaves to their husbands. The rest of the Bible is full of stories of strong women who led their families, their people, and their countries.