Sharing the Work: What My Family and Career Taught Me About Breaking Through

by Myra Strober, John Donahoe (Foreword)

The tumultuous life and career of a woman who fought gender bias on multiple fronts--in theory and in practice, for herself and for us all. "Myra Strober's Sharing the Work is the memoir of a woman who has learned that 'having it all' is only possible by 'sharing it all, ' from finding a partner who values your work as much as you do, to fighting for family-friendly policies. You will learn that finding allies is crucial, blending families after divorce is possible, and that there is neither a good time nor a bad time to have children. Both women and men will find a friend in these pages."
--Gloria Steinem Myra Strober became a feminist on the Bay Bridge, heading toward San Francisco. It is 1970. She has just been told by the chairman of Berkeley's economics department that she can never get tenure. Driving home afterward, wondering if she got something out of the freezer for her family's dinner, she realizes the she is being denied a regular faculty position because she is a mother. Flooded with anger, she also finds her life's to study and fight sexism, in the workplace, in academia, and at home. Strober's generous memoir captures the spirit of a revolution lived fully, from her Brooklyn childhood (and her shock at age twelve when she's banished to the women's balcony at shul ) to her groundbreaking Stanford seminar on women and work. Strober's interest in women and work began when she saw her mother's frustration at the limitations of her position as a secretary. Her consciousness of the unfairness of the usual distribution of household chores came when she unsuccessfully asked her husband for help with housework. Later, when a group of conservative white male professors sputtered at the idea of government-subsidized child care, Strober made the case for its economic benefits. In the 1970s, the term "sexual harassment" had not yet been coined. Occupational segregation, quantifying the value of work in the home, and the cost of discrimination were new ideas. Strober was a pioneer, helping to create a new academic field and founding institutions to establish it. But she wasn't she benefited from the women's movement, institutional change, and new federal regulations that banned sex discrimination. She continues the work today and invites us to join her.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Feminism, Business, Womens

238 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

CC to economist friends Rachel, PJ and Hannah

[Sarah left GR]

Interview with the author on the Freakonomics podcast:
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/gende...

[Yordanos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 4/4.5.
I’d recommend this book to all! Myra Strober is a formidable woman, economist, scholar, feminist, and an all around boss! The obstacles she faced and overcame, the incredible feats she accomplished, the scholarship and overall work she pioneered in areas such as economics, feminist studies, gender research, business and management, leadership, intersectional studies, etc is phenomenal. It’s unfortunate it took me this long to discover her and her poignant career but better late than never.
This book offers powerful and pragmatic takeaways that One rarely considers/encounters. It also illuminates on origin stories of some of the groundbreaking programs and movements that have benefited many, such as the Stanford Clayman Gender Research Institute and the Feminist Studies degree program.

A must read for sure!

[ashes ➷ · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister recommended this book as I ranted about how being perceived as a woman felt like living in a box, and it did help. I'm giving it 4 stars because while it was remarkably well written for someone who isn't a professional writer by trade, nonetheless it's posed as a kind of Feminist Text while being markedly uncaring about race and class. I found the book entertaining to read and generally absorbing but often difficult to take seriously when Strober would (for example) wave away the fact that her black, poor nanny 'needed' to work for her to support her own children, who would be taken care of by other family members.

I wish I could say "read other reviews by black and poor people on this subject," but it looks like there aren't many reviews yet... nonetheless, I don't want to speak too much on the topic given that it's not really my place.

[Eilean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Myra Strober is a talented storyteller that paints captivating scenes from her life in this memoir. I loved reading her stories about her childhood and encounters at work; they reminded me of my own experiences and how societal norms and expectations have influenced how I was brought up and my own beliefs about a woman's role in society. Great book if you are interested in the history of females in the workforce, economics, or gender equality.

[Adrienne Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish more academics wrote memoirs! After reading Strober's memoir, I gained a clearer picture of the battles female academics fought decades ago and it inspired me to continue fighting for better working and more equitable conditions for academic families and for contingent faculty.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent memoir of dedication, perseverance, scholarship, and learning across the author's accomplished career and personal life. Anyone with an interest in gender issues among middle- and upper-income American workers and parents should find this book worth their time.

[Judith Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading this memoir from the path-breaking feminist economist, I found more that resonates with me than I had remembered. A half-dozen years ahead of me, Strober faced many of the same obstacles that confronted me. I was a grad student at Stanford when Strober and others started its Center for Research on Women (CROW; now Clayman Institute for Gender Research), and I remember some of the people she mentions. As an economist, Strober was able to speak and write in their language about issues like the value of women's unpaid work and of subsidized child care. And then there's this: "The most important career decision you make is deciding who will be your spouse or partner" (p. 215).

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharing the Work: What My Family and Career Taught Me about Breaking Through (and Holding the Door Open for Others)
by Myra Strober

paperback
ill

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, fascinating, infuriating, inspiring!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an economist who cares about widening access to the profession, I connected deeply with this book. I seriously admire Strober for her candid descriptions of her experiences in work and life. She also is an economist who can collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner and takes opportunities to broaden her own thinking (rather than digging in her econ-trained heels). She writes in a straight-forward way that is clear and concise but never patronizing or arrogant. She reads as a great teacher even in memoir form.

The experiences of gender discrimination that Strober describes are striking and historically significant... Strober was denied a bat mitzvah because she was a girl, denied tenure-track because she was a woman with young children, and had to give birth without her husband because her doctor didn't allow husbands at "his" births. What struck me about these experiences was the overtness of the discrimination. People often said "the quiet part out loud"... in contrast, today, I feel a lot of the action is in the subtext.

This book is full of details and stories that I can't wait to discuss with colleagues (some topics: feminist economics, work-family trade-offs, research funding). I will close by simply writing out one one interaction Strober had with a Harvard Professor that hit me as particularly on brand for the profession:

"Are you normal?" he asks me[...]
"What do you mean?"
"Do you want to get married and have kids?"
"Yes. In fact, I'm engaged to be married"[...]
"Well, then," he laughs, "there you go. Why would you want to get a doctorate in economics if you're going to get married and have kids?"

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It interests me that institutions make women responsible for policing their own subordination." p57

"There would be far less foolishness, far less drivel about governments needing to balance their budgets in recessions, "just like families." What is required to get out of a depression or recession is more spending ... Recessions are NOT the time for governmental austerity. They are the time for public expenditures on repair to infrastructure, education and so on." p83

[Elaine Koyama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir of living through the women's movement and all the battles fought to make more opportunities sprout later. I lived through this time, and was leaving Stanford when CROW was beginning on campus. Little did I know as I embarked on my career in the Midwest that Strober was fighting in the midst of it on the West Coast. I look forward to comparing notes with her someday.

[Mills College Library]

330.092 S919 2016