Central to all our lives, work affects our status in the state, the family, and the economy. This reader examines the myriad ways in which work, whether it is well paid, unpaid, or underpaid, profoundly influences our roles in both the public and private spheres. The editor has selected a key set of essays that examine influential arguments on such central themes as (1) the origins of the gendered division of labor; (2) historical trends and economic transformations that affect and are affected by women's position in market and non market work; (3) the effects of occupational and job segregation by sex on status, pay, and promotion; (4) the ways in which formal and informal organizational culture shape and in turn are shaped by gender in professional and managerial positions; (5) class consciousness among wage earning men and women; (6) the different forms of gender discrimination that women and men face in the workplace; (7) the problems working parents face and the ways in which different societies, subcultures and genders cope; and (8) alternative approaches to improving the lives of working women and their families in the global economy.