Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets - Asian and Western Perspectives

Book excerpt: Concepts of emotion and emotional labour have largely been defined in European and American terms and according to Euro-American sensibilities with little attention given to the question of whether emotional work or emotional labour is different globally. In particular little has been written about the issue of what defines emotions and emotional labour in public work contexts and how it is configured in different cultural contexts. Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets considers how, and in what ways, emotional labour characterises formal and informal work environments in both Asia and the West. Key themes covered include: human rights issues and gender equity in formal and informal work contexts in Asia and the West; men, masculinity and emotional labour; impact on the work-life balance of professional women in Asian and Western contexts; the impact of the ‘feminization of migration’ in servicing high-end economic professionals; the impact of the new economy, organizational constraints on labour markets; and demographic patterns such as fertility, procreation, marriage, divorce in both Asian and Western contexts.