Böcker av Maureen Baker

We think of our family life as very personal, but in fact it is shaped by influences well beyond our control. Families, Labour and Love identifies the ways in which family and personal life in three ''settler'' societies - Australia, New Zealand and Canada - has been shaped by colonisation, immigration, globalisation, demographic changes, law and policy.Baker shows that these three countries, each a former colony, developed similar family trends and similar family policies. Strongly gendered patterns of paid and unpaid work played a major role in family life. The family practices of indigenous people were largely overlooked, as were those of recent immigrant groups. However local conditions also produced significant differences in family experiences among the three countries.Richly illustrated with examples, comparative data and textual sources, Families, Labour and Love provides a broad-ranging analysis of the family which will appeal to students, researchers and policy-makers.Maureen Baker outlines with great clarity the diversity of families and the way in which they are shaped by historical and cultural forces. The focus on Australia, New Zealand and Canada is not only refreshing but throws into sharp relief the impact on contemporary families of the colonial experience, industrialisation, large scale immigration and globalisation.David de Vaus, La Trobe University

A sociological analysis of family life in three 'settler' societies: Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

An analysis of the institutional, academic, family, and personal contributors to the academic gender gap in liberal-state universities.

Bringing together research and statistics from the fields of demography, political science, economics, sociology, women's studies, and social policy, this rich, multidisciplinary study provides a unique resource for anyone interested in Canadian family policy.

Drawing from nation-based research, cross-national studies, and international data bases, Restructuring Family Policies successfully integrates mainstream academic debates about restructuring welfare states with feminist research findings and current policy concerns.