"A House Is Not a Home: Women in Publishing" appears in the 1970 anthology Sisterhood Is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From the Women's Liberation Movement. In the essay, Laura Furman examines the experience of 1960s women working in the "gentlemanly profession" of publishing.
Women of the Houses
At that time, women in publishing were kept "in the home," according to Laura Furman. The "public life" of the book depended on male salesmen, who took it to the outside world, while women generally worked in the publishing house, crafting books and working with manuscripts. Women also worked hard as assistants to executives and editors in jobs that had "lesser power and salary, but equal pressure."
Traditional Powerful Figures
"A House Is Not a Home: Women in Publishing" discusses racial minorities, also missing from the highest ranks of the publishing industry. The essay describes a publishing world where white men have the most power as owners, managers and top editors, while women and other oppressed groups work as copy editors, production assistants, secretaries or in other positions such as filing and mailroom clerks.
"That the woman's possibilities are much more severely limited than she deserves for her intelligence, hard work, and professional experience, does not occur to most men in publishing or any industry; and if one woman is rebellious and 'demanding' she leaves that house and is replaced by another willing professional woman."
- from "A House Is Not a Home: Women in Publishing"
Changing the Publishing Industry?
In her essay, Laura Furman predicts that publishing will continue to function this way until women protest the ease with which they accept the positions of lesser power.
In addition to "A House Is Not a Home: Women in Publishing," Sisterhood Is Powerful includes essays about the experiences of professional women in medicine, television, journalism and the military.