Globalization, Uncertainty and Women's Careers assesses the effects of globalization on the life courses of women in thirteen countries across Europe and America in the second half of the 20th century.The book represents the first-ever longitudinal analysis of micro-level data from these OECD countries focusing exclusively on women's relationship to the labor market in a globalizing world. The contributors thoroughly examine women's employment entries, exits and job mobility and present evidence of women's increased labor market attachment and reduced employment quality in most of the countries studied. They also systematically consider the life course changes influenced by larger transformations in society and, in doing so, explicitly link the phenomena of globalization to individual women's lives in Europe and North America.

Highlighting the consequences of specific national policies on women's lives, women's labor market participation, and demographic phenomena such as low fertility, this book will prove invaluable to academics, students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers seeking to understand the effects of international social change on national contexts and individual lives.