Feminized Work and the Labour of Literature

Explores literary representations of ‘women’s work’ to generate new understandings of contemporary working conditions

Takes a literary approach to understanding contemporary feminized working conditions
Develops a transhistorical approach to the study of literature and notions of gendered work
Surveys literary representations of feminized work across a range of genres and periods, including twentieth and twenty-first century novels, poetry, autofiction, and activist comics, while also considering gendered labour in the production and circulation of literature, including in contemporary publishing, and Early Modern book collecting

In a world wherein work is increasingly feminized, historical and contemporary literature can reveal what ‘women’s work’ entails. Reading across different genres, time periods and geographical locations, this book explores gendered working lives through novels, poetry, comics, editorial work and book collecting. It moves from the library of an early modern noblewoman to protest comics in the 2017 Women’s March, from Virginia Woolf, Adrienne Rich and Buchi Emecheta to writing from the 2020s about motherhood and explores topics as various as gossip, poetic scraps and household management as well as gender-based violence and the creation of feminist solidarity. In doing so, it shows how literary perspectives on labour and gender can provide insights into work that is otherwise made invisible and can help us to better understand the challenges of today’s insecure work-lives.