- Description
- 1 online resource (300 pages)
- Summary
- "From Lean In to the continuing fight for equal pay, issues about women in the workplace are fiercely debated and championed. In The Rise of Corporate Feminism, Allison Elias recovers the historical origins of this debate by exploring the contested meaning of feminism for working women in corporations from the 1960s to the 1990s. By the 1960s, two visions of advancing women's status in the modern corporation were emerging. One sought to give individual women personal fulfillment by granting them the opportunity to compete for power, money, and status alongside men. The other aimed to use collective action to increase the social and economic value of traditionally female jobs, such as clerical or secretarial occupations. This book examines the divergence between these two conceptions of feminism and how they embody opposing notions of fairness, equity, and progress. Elias argues that the worldview that supported women's ambitions to become corporate leaders undermined the movement to improve women's status as laborers. Individualistic competition-not collaborative activism-became the means for women to achieve upward mobility in corporations. Elias analyzes the history of organizations like 9to5 and the National Association of Working Women, which sought to organize pink-collar clerical workers, and the rise of the first female managers in the 1980s. The book views these histories in the context of new laws regarding the workplace, larger changes in the workplace and the corporate world, including automation, which undercut the bargaining power of clerical workers; affirmative action; the rise of multinationals and deregulation. The book concludes with an analysis of the legacies of this history and the continuing challenges for both clerical and professional women"--
- Series Statement
- Columbia studies in the history of U.S. capitalism
- Uniform Title
- Rise of corporate feminism (Online)
- Alternative Title
- Rise of corporate feminism (Online)
- Subject
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Access (note)
- Access restricted to authorized users.
- LCCN
- 2022008914
- OCLC
- ssj0002776386
- Author
Elias, Allison.
- Title
The rise of corporate feminism [electronic resource] : women in the American office, 1960-1990 / Allison Elias.
- Imprint
New York : Columbia University Press, [2022]
- Series
Columbia studies in the history of U.S. capitalism
- Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
- Connect to: