Gender and Women's Experience at Work: A Critical and Feminist Perspective on Human Resource Development

This study draws on critical and fenminist scholarship on the sociology of work- and gender relations in an exploration of women's workplace learning through human resource development initiatives. The study, informed by a critical ethnographic research paradigm, was conducted over a 6-month period at two workplaces. Two overarching themes are discussed: (a) women and organizational change and (b) disappearing boundaries among work, family, and community. The research points out serious flaws in many assumptions underlying mainstream training and development programs about why and how women work in the office or on the shop floor. For adult educators, questions of who defines "productive work," as well as how that work is rewarded, become central to understanding the workplace and its role in controlling workers and in shaping the production of knowledge.