‘Taking Up Space’

Women at Work in Contemporary France

Author: Siham Bouamer and Sonja Stojanovic Series: French and Francophone Studies

The contributors to Taking Up Space focus on representations of women's labour in cultural production (literature, cinema and television, journalism, bande dessinee). The chapters draw on a wide range of work experiences, from salaried work in academic, artistic, corporate and working-class worlds to unpaid (reproductive, domestic) labour, illegal activities and activism.

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Summary

Description

Focusing on representations of women's experiences in contemporary France, 'Taking Up Space' examines how women inhabit a variety of work spaces. It also speaks to the importance of cultural productions in calling out labour issues affecting women, as well as in offering a platform that allows us to imagine a future where inclusive and equitable work spaces are the norm. Drawing on Sara Ahmed's phenomenological use of objects, the book explores women's experiences through different metaphors of the door related to labour. The contributors demonstrate how doors are not only closed or open, but also serve as a threshold. Taken together, the chapters convey how women's work experiences can range from states of oppression to survival and celebration, and demonstrates how through deliberate stances and actions, various work spaces can become sites of liberation and revolution.

Critic Reviews

"This volume provides a fascinating, rich and critically significant panorama of women's experiences in the French workplace through an analysis of post-1968 literature, film, artistic and media texts. It brings together chapters from 18 different authors that explore the gendered nature of women's labour from the perspective of work space (rather than workplace) on the premise that women take up spaces in work that are already occupied and in which they become deviant social subjects. The editors invoke metaphors of the door to elucidate the ways in which women are either positioned behind closed doors, moving through revolving doors or seeking to blow the doors off. This inspiring and voluminous collection, analysing such a rich and wide-ranging corpus of texts, will be essential reading for scholars of French studies, feminism, the workplace and labour studies and speaks to the importance of cultural production in representing and challenging discrimination faced by working women today." -- "Professor Sarah Waters, University of Leeds"

About the Author

This book will mainly be of interest to an academic audience, for scholarly studies and as instructional material. As the first edited volume on the representations in various cultural productions of women at work in contemporary France, it will be particularly useful to scholars writing and teaching on the question of gender and labour in post-68 France.