Working Women: Stories of Strife, Struggles and Survival

Second Call for Submissions: Please post or forward this second call for narratives, papers, and contributions to a book that focuses on the current global trends among professional women to survive in the workplace.

Kogi Naidoo, B.A., B. Ed., M.Ed., D. Ed.
Fay Patel, B.A., B. Ed., M.A., PhD

Should women work? Why should women work? What kind of work should women do? These are only a few of the many issues that society and women continue to wrestle with on a global front. ‘Women in the workplace’ is a notion that continues to be challenged over many decades, in fact, over centuries. Even in the twenty-first century it is especially interesting to note that while professional women in some cultures excel, they continue to struggle for survival and dignity in the workplace in other cultures. This book, “Working Women: Stories of Strife, Struggles and Survival” critically examines the socio-economic and political struggles of professional women across the globe and across cultures. The underlying goal of the book is to identify some of the struggles of professional women who continue to be marginalized in the workplace, who fight for survival, for recognition, for respect, and dignity. These women spend their lives carrying the burdens of their families and their children into and out of the workplace, expending energies and time that are often several fold more than that of their male colleagues. Working women across cultures globally are often short-changed in one way or another. Yet, they succeed. This book gives women an opportunity to share their stories of hardship, struggles, indignity, pain, and suffering. It is an attempt to record the struggles of women in the workplace, and to celebrate their successes. Readers will, not only be educated and informed about women’s struggles, but will be able to critically analyze policies and practices that create barriers for women, ostracize women and marginalize them. It will also provide hope to women struggling against all odds to care for themselves, their families and to balance these roles with the demands of their work.

Women have a right to education and to fair and just employment. Cultural norms and traditions, religion, disease, and poverty have often created barriers to women’s advancement. It is time that women reclaimed what are rightfully theirs. The right to participate in a free and fair democracy must be equivalent with the right to be employed and be treated with dignity and respect. A workplace that is free of sexual harassment, racism, abuse, violence, and indignity must become a reality for those who have struggled and for those who continue the struggle.

Deadline – 15 August

Dr. Fay Patel
Training Consultant
Training and Development Unit
Massey University
Palmerston North and Wellington
Telephone( Palmerston North): +64 6 356 9099 ext.8670
Telephone (Wellington): 64 4 801 5799 ext. 6522
Email: f.patel@massey.ac.nz
Web: http://tdu.massey.ac.nz