Lifetime Disadvantage, Discrimination and the Gendered Workforce

Lifetime Disadvantage, Discrimination and the Gendered Workforce fills a gap in the literature on discrimination and disadvantage suffered by women at work by focusing on the inadequacies of the current law and the need for a new holistic approach. Each stage of the working life cycle for women is examined with a critical consideration of how the law attempts to address the problems that inhibit women's labour force participation. By using their model of lifetime disadvantage, the authors show how the law adopts an incremental and disjointed approach to resolving the challenges, and argue that a more holistic orientation towards eliminating women's discrimination and disadvantage is required before true gender equality can be achieved. Using the concept of resilience from vulnerability theory, the authors advocate a reconfigured workplace that acknowledges yet transcends gender.

Table of Contents:
1. Lifetime disadvantage; 2. Education and training; 3. Stereotyping and gender discrimination; 4. Caregiving and career outcomes; 5. Glass ceilings and pay inequality; 6. Occupational segregation and non-standard working; 7. Pensions and retirement; 8. Beyond lifetime disadvantage.

About the Author :
Susan Bisom-Rapp is Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, California. She is a member of the American Law Institute and has published widely on employee rights and discrimination in employment. Malcolm Sargeant is Professor of Labour Law at Middlesex University. He has researched and written widely on employment and discrimination law issues.

Review :
'Drawing together this wide a range of data and to present it in such an accessible way is a fine achievement. The wealth of data offered on women's lifetime disadvantage, all of it drawn from a range of sources from the last five or six years, and demonstrating trends in discrimination and working patterns over the past 50 years, is extremely valuable to any one doing research into the impact of gender discrimination. … [a] thorough, compelling, and valuable book.' Richard Poole, Feminist Legal Studies 'Bisom-Rapp and Sargeant use a model of lifetime disadvantage to argue that antidiscrimination law adopts an incremental and disjointed approach to resolving the challenges of gender discrimination, and conclude that a more holistic orientation toward eliminating women's discrimination and disadvantage is required before true gender equality can be achieved.' Law and Social Inquiry 'The main contribution of this book is the successful combination of the sociological and the legal aspects of women's lifetime disadvantage in work. Readers who are not trained in law will likely be pleasantly surprised at the accessible and often fascinating analysis of current laws and their implementation, including the case law in the UK and the USA. The book is also a valuable source of up-to-date empirical data on gender inequality in work and retirement from both countries. The comparison between the two nations is particularly instructive as the UK is preparing to withdraw from the EU: British women benefit from various directives and the approach taken by the Court of Justice of the EU that, unlike in the USA, pregnancy-related discrimination automatically amounts to sex discrimination.' Erika Kispeter, Work, Employment and Society 'I enjoyed and admired the ambitious approach taken by Susan Bisom-Rapp and Malcolm Sargeant in their book, Lifetime Disadvantage, Discrimination and the Gendered Workforce. Their model of lifetime disadvantage was explained clearly and exhaustively researched. And I agree with their thesis, that only a holistic, comprehensive approach (rather than disjointed incrementalism), can get us closer to workplaces that are more accommodating for all workers and to a society that ends or at least ameliorates the economic insecurity for women as they age. … [I] believe it contributes to a very important discussion we need to have about how we could reimagine the workplace and society's social structures to end the oppression and contribute to the long-term economic security of all workers.' Nicole Buonocore Porte, Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal