Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the typical understanding of gentrifiers as young urban professionals who postpone childbearing has resulted in a very limited housing stock that prioritizes small units at the expense of family-friendly housing, thus limiting choices for alternative residential models. It focuses on gendered labor markets. Central to the literature on gender and gentrification has been the changing role of women in the labor force. The book updates that work by looking at the gendered division of labor in the modern city, paying particular attention to the glass ceiling, the gendered wage gap, and the growth of low paying jobs in industries that have served to replace the free labor of the stay-at-home mother, such as day care. It looks at the link between gentrification and queer spaces.