Gender, Work, and Space

This qualitative and quantitative study of a contemporary city establishes that many women, especially those with heavy household responsibilities, are dependent on extremely local employment opportunities. Women's dependence on locally available jobs focuses attention on the existence of different employment districts throughout the city. The argument is that social, economic, and geographic boundaries are overlaid and intertwined. As employers locate firms to seek out labor with particular social characteristics, social and occupational differences are mapped in place. Neighborhood-based differences in community resources, occupational opportunities, labor processes, scheduling of work, and cultures of parenting affect the ways that families order their lives and that gender relations are enacted in daily life.