| My dissertation is an analysis of the status and role of women in book publishing. As such, it is also a study of occupations, careers, and organizations. It is based on formal and informal interviews with hundreds of men and women employed at all levels in publishing. For several months, fieldwork was conducted in a college textbook firm and general trade firm. In addition, a mail questionnaire was administered to all employees in a random sample of small, medium, and large college textbook, general trade, and mass market paperback publishers headquartered in New York. These data are used to describe the division of labor by sex in publishing organizations and to specify the mechanisms of career mobility as influenced by gender, labor markets, and organizational structure.;Because men and women enter publishing with backgrounds and aspirations that are nearly identical, differences in their status stem from unequal career opportunities contained in the labor markets of entry-level positions. Women are less likely to obtain a sponsor or mentor who is highly placed in a firm and who can provide the kinds of career assistance--on-the-job training, encouragement, etc.--that is critical to career success.;The recent emergence of women in important editorial positions, subsidiary rights departments, and a few executive positions is significant. Changes in the nature of publishing and the structure of the industry have catapaulted women into important revenue generating and policy-making positions. Publishing appears to be becoming a "women's business" just as the industry is subsumed by the larger, more powerful entertainment and communications industries.;Women have always played an important, though unacknowledged, role in the publishing of books. Today, even though women comprise nearly two-thirds of the total employment in the industry, they do not have status and power equal to men. Men control the industry because they dominate policy-making positions, especially in college textbook publishing and sales and production departments; these are the most capital-intensive sectors and divisions of the industry. Women are overrepresented in the secondary and intermediary professional labor markets where they influence the look, style, and content of individual books; these positions are characterized by low visibility, low power, and low pay and are plentiful in the most labor-intensive sectors and divisions of the industry, including trade publishing, children's books publishing, in-house manuscript editorial, advertising, and publicity. |
