Full Description
The transformations that are now taking place in women's lives are of great interest to social scientists and policy makers, yet we know very little about the impact of this social change over time. This new study uses longitudinal data - information gathered over a considerable period of time - to provide new insights into the changing dynamics of lives of women today. In particular, it explores the potential of longitudinal or life course analysis as a powerful tool for appreciating the gender dimension of social life.
The contributors view the data from a policy perspective and use comparative analysis from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan to expand our understanding of women's life courses in relation to both men and women and the system of inequality.
Contents
Contents: Part I: Introduction; Introduction ‾ Elisabetta Ruspini and Angela Dale; Women and social change ‾ Elisabetta Ruspini; Survey designs for longitudinal research ‾ Elisabetta Ruspini; Part II: The issues; The role of education on postponement of maternity in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden ‾ Siv Gustafsson, Eiko Kenjoh and Cécile Wetzels; The financial consequences of relationship dissolution for women in Western Europe ‾ Caroline Dewilde; Women's incomes over a snythetic lifetime ‾ Heather Joshi and Hugh Davies; Fixed-term contracts and unemployment at the beginning of the employment career in Germany: does gender matter? ‾ Karin Kurz; Women and self-employment: the case of television production workers in Britain ‾ Shirley Dex and Colin Smith; Gender wage differentials in Britain and Japan ‾ Yayoi Sugihashi and Angela Dale; Longitudinal analysis and the constitution of the concept of gender ‾ Jane Elliott; Part III: Data sources; Concluding comments ‾ Elisabetta Ruspini and Angela Dale; Appendix: Description and characteristics of longitudinal data sets used in the book ‾ Elisabetta Ruspini.
