Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty

Despite their title, Albelda (economics, Univ. of Massachusetts, Boston) and Tilly (policy and planning, Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell) do a far better job of exploring the topic of women's poverty than they do glass ceilings. Indeed, much of their book consists of useful current data concerning women's poverty and reasons for it. The authors present a liberal program for alleviating poverty that is politically feasible though contrary to recent policy directions. They view Western European systems as a model for the United States over the longer term. Although the authors claim that women have common interests in alleviating poverty, they do little to link the interests of poor women to those in well-paying positions, and their suggestions for reforms in the workplace say little about elimination of the glass ceiling. Albelda and Tilly apply their specialties well, but they chose an inappropriate title. For academic collections.?A.J. Sobczak, Pasadena, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.