GENDERED SOCIETY CH 9 SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL: GENDERED WORKPLACE

What is "The Glass Ceiling?"

- Keeps women from being promoted equally with men (keeps them stuck at the bottom) - Stereotypes hold women back from certain positions (women are perceived to be less visionary than men and this is one reason they are less likely to among top business executives) - Company may lack appropriate policies and practices that promote workplace equality (may include informal efforts by men to restore the all-male hierarchy)

What is the problem of "Tokens?"

- Often treated as a representative of their entire group -- hypervisible as members of their "category" -- invisible as individuals - Have to work harder to have achievements noticed

What do you have to do in order to be in compliance with the 1963 Pay Equity Act?

- can't pay different wages to men and women - men need to report pay discrepancies and be aware of their own subtle forms of sexism

What is "The Glass Elevator (Escalator)?"

- the rapid promotion of men over women in female dominated fields (nursing, education) - where men are less common, they receive differential treatment that favors them to exert their authority and control in the workplace. - alternatively men in female-dominated professions are discriminated against and treated worse than women, the way women are treated in other professions.

Explaining the wage gap: Institutions

- who makes the rules of the game - how important is reducing the gap where you work

How can workplaces go about supporting and using family-friendly workplace policies?

- work-family reforms must not be thought of as "women's" concerns - encourage U.S. men to take family leave

What are the three legal remedies (court cases) for sex segregation?

1. Diaz v Pan American World Airways (men cannot be denied as flight attendants) 2. Wal-Mart and Home Depot (women denied management positions) 3. EEOC v Sears (women pushed into low commission jobs; court sided with Sears citing "differences")

How is sexism and gender discrimination at work covert?

1. Individual level: Comments about appearance 2. Structural: Occupational sex segregation 3. Excluding the opposite sex in lunch, after-work activities (networking) 4. Differential perceptions of participation ("leaning in")

What are two recent events that are examples of sex segregation regarding occupational compensation?

1. JLaw & American Hustle 2. US women's soccer: same work, more wins and viewership, far less pay

What are some contradictions of the persistence of gender ideologies?

1. Men "prove manhood" in the workplace 2. Work doesn't make men very happy 3. Many men feel they cannot fail - yet also bump into obstacles

How is sexism and gender discrimination at work overt?

1. Sexual harassment 2. Hiring / not hiring men or women (Hooters) 3. Wage disparities / "family" wage system

By the end of chapter 9, you should be able to...

1. Understand the ways in which the labor force and the wage gap have changed and the ways they have remained the same in the past 100-150 years. 2. Understand the place of the United States in workplace gender discrimination. 3. Be able to name both overt and subtle forms of sexism in the workplace. 4. Understand how sex segregation and wage differentials are connected. 5. Be able to list some of the possible ways that gender discrimination in the workplace can be redressed and reversed.

What are the two kinds of discrimination? Give an example of each.

1. When we treat people who are similar in different ways (women; racial and ethnic minorities) 2. When we treat people who are different in similar ways (failing to provide facilities for physically disabled)

Give some examples of how the ideologies about husband/wife earnings are in flux

1. Women are the primary breadwinner in 40% of households with children 2. Married couples: 20.3% of wives earn more than husband in 2013 3. Reports: 25% believe it's inappropriate for wives to earn more; couples are more unhappy? 4. 35% of men would quit or reduce hours if wife earned more

What does sex segregation have consequences for?

1. income 2. authority 3. autonomy

How can workplaces go about enacting family-friendly workplace policies?

1. on-site day care 2. flexible work hours 3. parental leave

What do people often view sex segregation as?

1. something that happens naturally 2. an expression of men's and women's aptitudes and predispositions

What are the two ways gender discrimination can be characterized?

1. vertically = women are denied access to the higher tiers of management 2. horizontally = through the segmentation of tasks within the workplace

Give two examples of how gender discrimination occurs when employers use characteristics about women in order to exclude them

1. women don't need the money 2. women have different aptitudes and interests

Compare the percentage of married women with young children in the labor force in the 1950s to today.

12% - 1950s 65% - Today

the percentage of women working rose from

16.2% in 1911 to over 62% by 2008

major decline in wage gap between

1981 and 2000, from 62% to 80%; stagnant since 2000

how have the numbers of women entering the workforce increased?

20.6% in 1900 32% in 1948 56.8% in 2016 - across all races and ethnicities, entering all professions

by 2003 more than 80% of women in the

25-54 age group were workong

What percentage of families follow the male-breadwinner, female-homemaker model? Why?

5% - our adherence to gender ideologies no longer fits the world around us

each kid costs a women

7% in wages

What is "subtle sexism"?

Gender discrimination that is structural and attitudinal; reference p. 252

What does it mean that the Supreme Court grants "intermediate scrutiny" to cases involving gender discrimination?

Gender segregation is permissible, but only under the most exceptional of circumstances

What factors contribute to the variations of the wage gap?

It varies according to the application of laws and policies: 1. according to the company you work for 2. with the type of work 3. with levels of education - college educated women earn 29% less than college educated men 4. with age - women aged 15-24 earn 93% as much as men - women aged 55-59 earn 62% as much as men

What is one material consequence of sex segregation?

Lower wages for women than men

What are some wage differences regarding occupational sex segregation?

Male-dominated jobs have higher wages

What is "The Glass Cellar?"

Men more likely to occupy most hazardous jobs - but: many jobs that are exclusively male are the ones whose workers have most resisted women

employers can hire based on gender if there is a

Nona dude occupational requirement

Potential test question: how would you explain why men don't go into women's jobs?

Pretend to be a parent in the position of choosing a nanny, babysitter, or even a preschool. How do you feel about men holding those jobs?

What is tokenism?

When people who are admitted into an organization but have noticeable differences; these people are accepted because of their minority status not in despite of it.

contributes to vulnerability of women to economic downturns and

changes in personal circumstances

sex segregation

concentrations in different occupations, industries, jobs and levels in workplace hierarchies

What might explain race and ethnic differences in the wage gap?

decline in men's wages

What is the workplace "mommy track?"

demands of a job discriminate against mothers

What is sexual harassment actually about?

dominating and excluding workers

pay ewuity

equal pay for equal work; equal pay for work of equal value

When and why was the Women's Bureau established?

established by Congress in 1920; to develop standards and policies to promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.

1989 sexual harassment

fist defined in Canada

tolerance of precarious employment relies on

gendered and revitalized ideas

Explaining the wage gap: Identity

gendered identities that adhere to gender norms that negatively affect women's ambitions, self-worth, and assertiveness

Potential Test Question: How do gendered experiences in the workplace vary across women and men?

hah

What are the material consequences of aggressively promoting women in the workplace, according to Roy Douglas Adler's study?

higher wages across the board

establishing comparable worth between jobs has been

highly controversial

tokens treated as symbols

hyper visible as representatives of category; invisible as individual

Potential Test Question: What types of men also experience inequalities in power, prestige, and pay in the workplace?

idk

workplace equality requires

interventionist strategies in grunt and promotion

How has the wage gap between genders changed in the last 150 years?

it's remained relatively constant

Potential Test Question: Do all men benefit at the expense of women in the workplace? How can we make sense of gender inequality in the workplace?

lol

women's work in the 20th century was largely auxiliary work that made the

masculine world run smoothly, ignores the real experience of working women

Explaining the wage gap: Interactions

may involve social contacts

What is a gender-neutral job comparison system?

measures jobs more fairly than do comparable worth programs

How does American culture judge success and failure in the workplace on gendered lines?

men are seen as "unsexed" by failure, and women are seen as "unsexed" by success

glass cellar

men stuck in the most hazardous jobs

What defines gender discrimination?

must prove one was treated differently on basis of gender (not age or other exceptional circumstances)

precarious employment has

no security, lack of control over conditions, lack of regulatory protection, low income and is the fastest growing areas of work since 1970s

job segregation

not solely responsible for sex segregation, educational systems, social control at workplace (hiring stage and beyond) have an effect too

women are 60%

of part time temporary and 75% of part time permanent employees

What is one of the most important elements that reinforces the glass ceiling?

old boys network

job creation has been in

part time and temporary pisitions

harassment is about

power

discrimination in hiring and especially in

promoting

87% of women

reported in 1993 statscan survey that they have experienced sexual harassment

horizontal segregation

segregation within occupations in different fields that are similar in terms of educational and skill requirements

glass elavator

sexism out weighs tokenism and men are rapidly promoted

sticky floor

stuck in low wage positions with little opportunity for upward mobility

Potential Test Question: How do social norms and patterns found within the home affect norms and patterns in the workplace?

tbt

What is the contradiction at the heart of the workplace, according to Willard Gaylin?

that it is the most significant place where men can prove manhood and confirm identity, but that breadwinning and providing do not necessarily make men happy

What is the "glass ceiling"?

the artificial obstacles that bar qualified female workers from moving up into management positions

What is " the sticky floor"?

the barriers that keep women trapped in low wage positions with little opportunity for upward mobility

vertical segregation

the differences in educations experience and skills within the same field

How did the composition of the labor force change from 1900 to 2005?

the percentage of working women rose from 20.6% to more than 60%

What is "sex segregation"?

the way in which people are guided, pushed, or occasionally shoved into specific positions in the workplace based on their sex; the insidious effect that separating men's and women's public bathrooms causes in all gender relations

What is the "mommy track"?

the ways in which workplace discrimination transmutes itself into discrimination against those workers who take time off to have children

How do American levels of gender inequality in the workplace and in income compare with those of other nations?

they are among the highest in the industrial world

quid pro quo

trade of sexual contract is offered as reward or avoidance of punishment

What happens when women enter male dominated jobs?

wages often drop (i.e. veterinary medicine in the US)

What happens when men enter female dominated jobs?

wages often rise (i.e. computer programmers in the US)

What happens when a particular occupation shifts its gender composition?

wages shift to reproduce men's higher earnings across the board

'masculine' characteristics

we give value and pay to occupations associated with

70%

what % of women were working/employed in teaching/nursing/health professions clerical and sales/service in 2003

When does sex segregation occur?

when men and women are concentrated into different occupations, industries, jobs, and levels within a workplace

tokenism

when ppl who are recognizably different are accepted because of their minority status; discouraged from recruiting people like themselves and encouraged to fit in

the three main causes for wage gap are:

women's unequal responsibility for child bearing and child rearing, discrimination and sex segregation

family friendly workplace policies to help

work life balance

since the early 19th century

work was part of the definition of manhood, leads to dissatisfaction for men

women still discrimination against and men bewildered by

workplace harassment policies

Why are comparable-worth programs more effective than a simple strategy of pay equity at combating gender inequality in wages?

because they correct for sex segregation

What is the wage gap between men and women?

Women currently earn 77% as much as men: - 75% white women - 87% black and Hispanic women

glass ceiling

artificial carried attitudes or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward