Kessler-Harris Questions

1. Your article "Stratifying by Sex" gave a detailed critique and history of the sexual division of labor, yet doesn't explore as much the recent phenomenon of educated women being called to a career, while simultaneously feeling driven to uphold the cult of domesticity. What are some of the roots of this? Does this represent a a positive movement forward for women, or is it instead a sort of self-inflicted glass ceiling?

2. Your article obviously focuses on working women. I am interested to know, however, what you think about the role of men in the home. You argue that the home and the workplace are mutually dependent on each other. Is this true for working men as well?

3. In Andrew Wiese’s article, “The Other Suburbanites: African American Suburbanization in the North before 1950”, Wiese writes, “Middle-class white suburbanites could generally afford to live on the salary of a male breadwinner alone, and the limited research on working-class white suburbanites suggests that few married women work outside the home. In contrast, working-class black families who aspired to a home in the suburbs often relied on the income of both parents” (1510). He goes on to give statistics that show that black women were primarily employed for economic reasons. How have women, such as the majority of black women post-1900s who have always been employed thus dealt with the tension between work and home?