There has been far too little attention to the violence that women experience at the hands of male partners during and after separation from a marriage. In this article, I provide evidence for the seriousness of the problem of violence during separation and its consequences. I argue that (a) violence is a significant factor causing women to leave marriages and thus contributes to the high rate of divorce; and (b) violence continues to play a role in the divorce process as couples negotiate for assets after separation. The data presented in this article are from a study based on a random sample of divorced women with children from diverse backgrounds. The data make clear that many women experienced violence both during and after the ending of their marital relationships and that the violence caused some women to leave their marriages and caused others difficulty in negotiating for their share of marital resources. These women's experiences have implications both for how we conceptualize divorce and for social policy issues.

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In this article, the author explores the care involved in parenting teenage children. Parenting at this stage, when teenagers are on the cusp of independence, requires strategies of monitoring and controlling children that are often not thought of as carework. The author focuses her analysis on one particular area of great concern to parents—control over teenagers' freedom of movement. Parents see control over their children's whereabouts as essential for keeping children safe. In presenting her data—interviews with mothers and teenagers—the author highlights the interactive aspect of this work. This kind of carework is above all a series of negotiations between parents and teenage children as teenagers try to gain more independence and parents try to maintain some control over them. Another important part of this analysis is to demonstrate that this type of parenting work is strongly affected by larger social forces of gender, class, and race.

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Over the past decade advocates for battered women in the health care system, citing the large number of battered women who come to health care settings, have proposed interventions and trainings for health care personnel on behalf of battered women. However, little is currently known about the effectiveness of intervention efforts. This paper presents observation data on characteristics of battered women in four hospital Emergency Departments (EDs) and on staff responses to battered women in these EDs. The data show definite patterns in the women’s characteristics and in staff responses to battered women. These data raise issues which should be considered in the researching and designing of interventions for battered women in the health care system.