Bringing together the preliminary results of two pilot studies carried out in two fishing towns in Newfoundland, this paper examines some of the questions raised by the studies. In particular, it demonstrates that women interpret their experience of work in different ways than men do, and differently from that expected by the conventional economic interpretations. This, in part, explains women's
... [Show full abstract] perennially poor position in the labor market. However, and more important, the paper shows how women's interpretations of the value of their paid and unpaid work in the context of the overall “family project” allows them to see their contributions as positive, essential, and certainly equal to those of men.