Gender, Work and Leisure in the Eighties - Looking Backwards, Looking Forwards

This paper reviews some of the major features of British sociological research on gender in the fields of employment, leisure and unpaid work carried out during the nineteen eighties. It examines both the achievements and the failings of such research. These include the development of feminist theory and methodology as well as the documentation of women's differential experiences. The article then traces the connections between the studies done during the eighties and the significant economic, political and social events of the decade, pointing out that not all of those events have been reflected in the research undertaken. Finally the paper considers what some of the major social, economic and political trends of the nineteen nineties might be and suggests some possible future directions for research on work and leisure, including the widening out of gender studies to include other dimensions of inequality.