The Sex of Class

Women now comprise the majority of the working class. Yet this fundamental transformation has gone largely unnoticed. This book is about how the sex of workers matters in understanding the jobs they do, the problems they face at work, and the new...

Dorothy Sue Cobble is Professor of Labor Studies, History, and Women's/Gender Studies at Rutgers University. She is the author of The Other Women's Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America and Dishing it Out: Waitresses and Their Unions in the Twentieth Century, and the editor of Women and Unions, Forging a Partnership, also from Cornell.

Cobble has edited an insightful volume that extends our understanding of how American unions are responding to the increased presence of women in the workforce. Several chapters discuss how to implement flexible grievance and work systems to better serve women's needs to balance home demands with work and how to organize groups that were not thought of as ripe for organization, including females immigrant workers, informal economy workers, and home care workers.... Highly recommended.

Margaret Hallock, Director, Wayne Morse Center, University of Oregon:

This book is an important addition to the literature on women and trade unions. Dorothy Sue Cobble frames the diverse chapters in terms of 'the sex of class' and points out that work is being feminized in several dimensions.

Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice-President, AFL-CIO:

Once again, Dorothy Sue Cobble is right on target. In The Sex of Class, she's brought together a remarkable group of essays that spell out why class inequalities are growing larger and how the working class is becoming more female than ever. At the same time, this collection thoughtfully describes the place in the union movement for millions of women who teach our kids, clean our offices, and nurse us back to health. The Sex of Class is indispensable. Everyone who's part of the struggle for working women should read it.

Dan Clawson, University of Massachusetts Amherst, author of The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements:

Anyone interested in advancing either our understanding or our practice on class, gender, and the labor movement needs to read this collection, which includes some of the most creative thinking available on these issues. This book is central if scholars are to understand what is happening to the U.S. class structure, and if either the labor movement or the women's movement is to regain momentum and power.

Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law and Director, Center for WorkLife Law, University of California, Hastings:

A must-read for anyone interested in the future of the union movement.

Lois Gray, Jean McKelvey-Alice Grant Professor of Labor-Management Relations Emeritus, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University:

The Sex of Class, edited by Dorothy Sue Cobble and featuring articles by twenty distinguished authors with varying experiences and points of view, breaks new ground in advancing our understanding of the important role of women in labor and social justice organizations. This highly readable book is essential reading not only for students in labor studies, women's studies, sociology and political science classes but also for all who are concerned with the future of the American labor movement.