Defining Work : Gender, Professional Work, and the Case of Rural Clergy

For rural clergy, the lines between private life and professional life can become blurred. Their offices are often in their homes, parishioners are also neighbours, and professional duties are intertwined with emotional caregiving and volunteer activity. In a society that defines work as paid, public, and intellectual, the ambiguity inherent in the life of the rural clergy poses unique challenges. In Defining Work Muriel Mellow considers how men and women in this occupational group conceptualize "work" in the context of their unique circumstances and shows how their experience raises questions for feminist theories of work. "Based on interviews with forty rural Protestant clergy, Muriel Mellow offers a study of how gender and work intersect among the rural clergy. In Defining Work she argues that male and female clergy challenge gendered definitions of work by focusing on obligation, context, visibility, and time. She also considers how clergy's work is shaped by the rural setting, arguing that we must consider how work is "placed" as well as gendered." --Résumé de l'éditeur Contents Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 Conceptualizing Work 3 The Context of This Study: Methodology and Respondents 4 Ambiguity: An Essential Component of the Profession 5 Defining Work in Accountable Ways 6 Defining Emotional Boundaries 7 Negotiating the Boundary between Public and Private 8 Conclusion Appendix One: Methodological Notes Appendix Two: Coding Categories Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Z A study of how gender and work intersect among the rural clergy. This work argues that male and female clergy challenge gendered definitions of work by focusing on obligation, context, visibility, and time. It also considers how clergy's work is shaped by the rural setting, arguing that we must consider how work is "placed" as well as gendered.