Gender-Class Equality in Political Economies

Gender-Class Equality in Political Economies offers an in-depth analysis of gender-class equality across six countries to reveal why gender-class equality in paid and unpaid work remains elusive, and what more policy might do to achieve better social and economic outcomes. This book is the first to meld cross-time with cross-country comparisons, link macro structures to micro behavior, and connect class with gender dynamics to yield fresh insights into where we are on the road to gender equality, why it varies across industrialized countries, and the barriers to further progress.

Lynn Prince Cooke is a professor of sociology at the University of Surrey, UK. Her research, exploring policy effects on group outcomes, has appeared in American Journal of Sociology, European Sociological Review, and Journal of Marriage and Family, for which she co-authored the 2010 decade review essay on cross-national research.

Chapter 1 Gender-Class Equality Over Time. 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 The state and institutional equality frames. 1.3 The country cases: Policy effects on class v gender equality. 1.4 The resilience of inequality within its institutional frame. 1.5 Book overview. Chapter 2 Paid and Unpaid Work in Context. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Gender differences in labor supply and demand. 2.3 The state and the labor market. 2.4 The state and a gendered division of household labor. 2.5 So what happened to the gender revolution? 2.6 Gender-class equality in post-industrial economies. 2.7 Summary: Policy paths and gender-class equality. Chapter 3 Population Policies and Group Divides. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 19th Century expansion and women’s bodies. 3.3 19th Century immigration policies. 3.4 Post-war family policies. 3.5 Immigration policies in the post-war economic recovery. 3.6 Reproduction in the "new" global economy. 3.7 Immigration in the "new" global economy. 3.8 New world, old social order. Chapter 4 Educational Foundations of Gender-Class Equality. 4.1 Education and the institutional equality frame. 4.2 Group differences in educational foundations. 4.3 Post-war expansion of pre-primary provision. 4.4 More secondary education for all. 4.5 Expanding educational attainment. 4.6 Educational structures and relative group equality. Chapter 5 Policy Foundations of Gender-Class Employment Equality. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Australian versus US 19th Century worker mobilization. 5.3 European post-war employment policies. 5.4 Australian versus US post-war equality initiatives. 5.5 The European Union and gender equality. 5.6 Work-family reconciliation and gender equality. 5.7 Gender-class employment equality in the 21st Century. Chapter 6 Current Gender-Class Employment Equality. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 The institutional equality frame and employment status. 6.3 Individual characteristics and employment in context. 6.4 Weekly work hours of employed individuals in context. 6.5 Gender-class wage inequalities in context. 6.6 Employment equality in its institutional equality frame. 6.A Technical appendix. Chapter 7 Gender-Class Equality in Paid and Unpaid Work. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Housework over time and across countries. 7.3 Who does any housework in context? 7.4 Predicting individual housework hours in context. 7.5 Couple time in paid and unpaid work in context. 7.6 Equality exchanges in their institutional frames. 7.A. Technical appendix. Chapter 8 Sustainable Policy for Greater Equality. 8.1 The resilience of complex inequality. 8.2 The inefficiency of market inequalities. 8.3 Social investment strategies. 8.4 Policy and sustainable unpaid time.