商品詳細

This case-study of a fast-growing segment of the labor market examines the meaning of office work for women: their prolonged struggle to be admitted to the unions, the role of the Schoevers Institute - the Dutch Katharine Gibbs School - in shaping the occupation of secretary, the conservative backlash against female office workers between the two world wars, and finally, the way these women look back on their time in the office, including their experiences of sexual harassment. "The male-female politics of office employment as revealed by Francisca de Haan's study are fascinating and shed significant light on business and labor practices and educational politics as well as on the Dutch feminist movement itself. In addition to her extensive detective work in the historical sources, de Haan has availed herself of the best in international scholarship to build the theoretical foundation on which the book rests. Her study will be a welcome addition to the English-language literature on Europe, especially as Dutch women's history is undeservedly all too little known outside the Netherlands." - Karen Offen, The Institute for Research on Women & Gender, Stanford University.