"This edited volume is a marvelous text in terms of understanding gendered labour in Japan and South Korea." - Jesook Song, Pacific Affairs: Volume 83, No. 4 – December 2010"Women are often divided by their gender roles in traditional societies. They must choose to either erase their gender or maintain their femininity; and between their reproductive role and being objects of male sexual pleasure, cast as either mothers and wives or as prostitutes. Women’s role as industrial workers hangs in the balance between the two. In closely examining this divide and the experiences of the women who exist within it, this book makes a significant contribution to both gender studies and studies of labour history." Maho Toyoda, Kansai University, Asian Studies Review