Confronting State, Capital and Patriarchy Women Organizing in the Process of Industrialization

Confronting State, Capital and Patriarchy focuses on the methods, strategies and organizational forms used by women workers in response to technological and industrial restructuring. Written primarily by researchers and activists (and most of the authors identify themselves as both), the volume is important in its combination of concrete suggestions for action with scholarly analysis. Confronting State, Capital and Patriarchy challenges conventional approaches to economic and technological change, and queries also narrowly or single-focused analyses of women's situation. The volume provides alternative understandings of responses to industrialization, through description and analysis of specific actions by women workers in very different arenas. A common concern throughout is to identify practical strategies which transform not only gender relations, but also economic, political and other social relations. The contributions of activists illuminate the inner workings and struggles of women's groups, and give a feel for the ongoing struggles in which the women are engaged. The book is sufficiently specific, in terms of concrete actions and responses, to provide a useful sourcebook for activists and workers in factories and labour organizations. It is also comprehensive enough, in its broad theoretical and political framework, to be a key reference for academics and other writers, analysts and researchers in the labour and labour studies fields. Thus, it is a single-volume handbook which highlights and contextualizes ongoing activities in the field of women and labour relations.