Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets - Asian and Western Perspectives

Concepts of emotion and emotional labour have largely been defined in European and American terms and according to Euro-American sensibilities with little attention given to the question of whether emotional work or emotional labour is different globally. In particular little has been written about the issue of what defines emotions and emotional labour in public work contexts and how it is configured in different cultural contexts. Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets considers how, and in what ways, emotional labour characterises formal and informal work environments in both Asia and the West. Key themes covered include: human rights issues and gender equity in formal and informal work contexts in Asia and the West; men, masculinity and emotional labour; impact on the work-life balance of professional women in Asian and Western contexts; the impact of the ‘feminization of migration’ in servicing high-end economic professionals; the impact of the new economy, organizational constraints on labour markets; and demographic patterns such as fertility, procreation, marriage, divorce in both Asian and Western contexts.

Ann Brooks is Professor of Sociology and Cultural Studies at the University of Adelaide. She is author of Academic Women (Open University Press, 1997); Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (Routledge, 1997); and Gendered Work in Asian Cities: The New Economy and Changing Labour Markets (Ashgate, 2006). Her latest book is: Social Theory in Contemporary Asia: Intimacy, Reflexivity and Identity (Routledge 2010). Her forthcoming books include Emotions in Transmigration: Transformation, Movement and Identity (Palgrave 2011) and a co-edited collection (with David Lemmings) on the history of emotions in the work of Norbert Elias. Theresa Devasahayam is Fellow and Gender Studies Programme Coordinator at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. She is co-editor of Working and Mothering in Asia: Images, Ideologies and Identities (National University of Singapore Press 2007) and editor of Gender Trends in Southeast Asia: Women Now, Women in the Future (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 2009).