Search results

"Between 1945 and the new century millions of women, including mothers and migrants, joined the labour force. These changes are brought to life through the stories of migrant women, working in factories and hospitals, banks, care homes, shops and universities over a period of 60 years. Migrant Women's Voices is an autobiography of the post-war period as Britain became a multi-cultural society and waged work the norm for most women. McDowell illustrates the shift in migration patterns as post-imperial migrants to the UK replaced the immediate post-war pattern of migrants from war-torn Europe and who were then themselves joined by migrants from an increasingly diverse range of countries as the 20th century drew to a close."--Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- 1 The Working Lives of Migrant Women -- Finding employment in a changing labour market -- Women talking about employment, work and life -- Migrant origins -- Reading the text: stories of change and continuity -- Individual stories and world events: talk, memories and recollections -- The organization of the book -- 2 Moving Stories: Journeys to the UK -- Leaving Latvia -- 'Nursing's what in those days a lot of ladies did' -- Twice migrants: India, East Africa and the UK -- Temporary migration -- 'A little bit of dirty business': moving within Europe -- Seeking asylum -- 3 Making Things: Textiles, Toys, Shirts, Seat Covers and Engines -- Spinning and weaving in the 1940s -- 'That solder stinks': on the line in the late 1940s -- Manufacturing work at home -- Sewing seat covers: working for Ford -- 'Hard to touch meat': providing airline meals -- 'The smell there, the plastic': on the line -- On the blue shift: working for BMW -- 4 Waged Domestic Work: Cleaning, Catering and Childcare -- 'Now nobody wants to do the cheap work': forms of domestic service -- Scrub the dishes and polish the floors: hospital domestic labour -- 'I didn't come to England to be a slave': working as an au pair -- 'The guests, they don't see us': agency work in hotels -- 5 Body Work: Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Caring for the British -- 'We did clean then': nursing as the NHS was established -- 'We thought we were doing the SRN': nurses from the Caribbean -- 'It was discrimination in a very subtle way': Indian nurses -- 'It's a good thing to be kept on your toes' -- 'I've never thought to call myself as an immigrant': the NHS and travel opportunities -- 'Go for nursing and get a job': nursing in three countries.

Although the Second World War ended sixty years ago, there are still untold stories waiting to be heard: stories not only of diplomats and soldiers but also of refugees, camp inmates and ordinary people living in occupied territories, stories of women's and children's lives as well as those of men. In Hard Labour the forgotten voices of a group of young women who left Latvia in 1944 are captured, telling the story of their flight from the advancing Soviet Army, their difficult journeys across central Europe, their lives as displaced people in Allied camps in Germany and fina

Full of unique and compelling insights into the working lives of migrant women in the UK, this book draws on more than two decades of in-depth research to explore the changing nature of women's employment in post-war Britain. A first-rate example of theoretically located empirical analysis of labour market change in contemporary Britain Includes compelling case studies that combine historical documentation of social change with fascinating first-hand accounts of women's working lives over decades Integrates information gleaned from more than two decades of in-dept.

Redundant Masculinities?investigates the links between the so-called 'crisis of masculinity' and contemporary changes in the labour market through the lives of young working class men.Allows the voices of poorly-educated young men to be heard.Looks at how the labour market is changing.Emphasises the social construction of gender and racial identities.Dispels popular myths about the crisis in masculinity.

Machine generated contents note:Introduction: Money and Work --pt. IGender at Work --1.Thinking through Work: Gender, Power and Space --2.City Work/Places: The Old and New City --3.Gendered Work Patterns --4.Gendered Career Paths --5.Culture of Banking: Reproducing Class and Gender Divisions --pt. IIBodies at Work --6.Engendered Cultures: The Impossibility of Being a Man --7.Body Work 1: Men Behaving Badly --8.Body Work 2: The Masqueraders --9.Conclusions: Rethinking Work/Places --Appendix.Field Work.