CRF Events - Women and Work Conference

October 30-31, 2008

"Women and Work: Choices and Constraints"

A conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

In the fall of 2003, the New York Times published a controversial article entitled “the Opt-Out Revolution,” in which the author, Lisa Belkin, spoke of a growing trend among well-educated professional women to “opt-out” of the workplace upon becoming mothers. This “opt-out” revolution piece spawned a flurry of popular interest in the subject of women’s choice to climb the professional ladder or to “opt out” and parent. Many critiques followed, arguing that, in fact, women’s employment rates, including for mothers, have been increasing over time, and those women who leave the labor force often are not making a positive choice, but being pushed out or otherwise “mommy-tracked.” Others noted the importance of recognizing how class and status may be shaping these processes differently for different groups of women.

Certainly, women have made gains in equal access to education and employment and companies have gained from the influx of talented women into the workforce. However, there are still many questions about the choices and constraints for low income women workers and professional women. Do current laws and policies support or constrain women’s choices regarding work and family?

In order to explore these issues, the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Center for Research on Families will host a two-day symposium on “Women and Work: Choices and Constraints” to be held on campus on October 30-31, 2008.

The focus of the symposium will be on key workplace challenges for women in the 21st century by reconsidering the notion of 'opting out'.

The keynote address, presented by Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law and Director of the Center for WorkLife Law, will be held on the evening of October 30th, and lay the groundwork for the following day in which preeminent intellectuals from across the nation and accomplished faculty from the University of Massachusetts Amherst will present and discuss their findings in interdisciplinary panel sessions. Four thematic panels will have a lead-off presenter and two discussants from different disciplines and perspectives.

This conference is presented by the Center for Research on Families with support from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of the Vice Provost for Research through a Leadership in Action Award.

Additional contributors include: the University of Massachusetts Amherst Alumni Association, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Easthampton Savings Bank, the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Center for Public Policy and Administration, UMass Amherst Women's Studies Program, Hampshire College Feminist Studies Program, the Women and Gender Studies program at Amherst College, and the Gender Studies program at Mount Holyoke College.

Special thanks goes to the many alumni who have provided both significant contributions and enthusiastic support.