Week 11
Major, Brenda, Dean McFarlin, and Diana Gagnon. "Overworked and Underpaid: On the Nature of Gender Differences in Personal Entitlement," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 47(6), 1984, p. 1399.
*This is just the abstract and a few paragraphs of an article, so I don't think he'd ask about it* -Research: gender diffs in feeling of personal entitlement as it relates to payment for work performed. -Women paid themselves less than men when there was no comparison information. -When there was a fixed, prepaid amount, women worked longer, did more work and more correct work in public settings. Women, not men, worked longer when they thought their work was monitored -Conclusion: In addition to external standards about comparisons w/ others, individuals have internal standards to judge the fairness of compensation for their work. These might relate to what they've received in the past.
Associated Press. "Young Female Doctors Reach Pay Parity With Men," Washington Post, April 11, 1996.
-Women doctors make as much as men doctors if they work the same hours (this is a 13 percent increase fromt the 1980s). Therefore they pay difference can be explained by women's shorter hours and choosing less lucrative medical fields. -Male doctors aere more likely to be self-employed, and this yields higher benefits. -Some exceptions: in family practice, women doctors make 13% more an hour than males, but 26% less in internal medicine. -Number of female physicians in US has quadrupled over the past 20 years (this article was written in 1996), but women are stil behind men in med schools and professional groups
Browne, Kingsley, "Evolved Sex Differences and Occupational Segregation (Definitely could ask about it)
1. Men's orientation toward achieving status and taking career risks to obtain top position and greater income. Women have a greater desire to be involved in their children's lives. These differences contribute to the 'glass ceiling' and gender gap in compensation. 2. Sex differences in risk taking, competitiveness, social orientation, and various cognitive abilities lead to sex differences in occupational interests and distributions. 3. Men score higher on occupational interest in realistic, investigative, and enterprising jobs. Women score higher on occupational interest in artistic and social jobs. 4. Women's representation in science field is lower overall than men's, but not in all areas. Women are more involved in social sciences like psychology and lowest in engineering. 5. Men and women integrate more in white collar jobs than blue collar jobs. Men are more present in blue collar jobs particularly b/c most of them are the realistic type (building etc.) 6. Blue collar jobs also typically require more strength so men are more suitable 7. Cultural differences do contribute to these occupational differences, but you can't ignore that biology also play a role 8. One central flaw in the purely social affect is that it fails to explain cross cultural differences, but the biosocial approach does stating that the distribution of men and women into social roles within a society, which have come from biological differences: men's greater size and women's childrearing and nursing***important fact 9. Talks about the typical androgen and testosterone differences in the sexes in prenatal stage 10. Psychological sex differences have an ancient history where the mind was sexually dimorphic, which is why it's that way today. Evolved preferences and behavioral predispositions along with social forces have driven men and women to follow different career paths***
Goldin, Claudia and Cecilia Rouse. "Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of 'Blind' Auditions on Female Musicians," NBER working paper #5903, Jan. 1997, abstract only.
A study in changing the way symphony orchestra musicians are hired. Used a blind audition w/ a screen to conceal gender. In 1970, females were 5% of players but in 1997 they were 25%. The blind audition increases by 50% the probability that a women will be advanced out of preliminary rounds. It also increases the chances that she'll be a final round winner. Blind auditions can explain between 30 and 55% of the increase in population of new hires.
Smardz, Zofia. "Just Give it a Shot, Girls," Washington Post, 3/27/05.
An exploration on the quality of being opinionated and how it is expressed in women. One female editor claimed that women were not as comfortable expressing pure opinion. This particular author is an opinion editor so she deals with those people who wish to express their views about a given article or report. Men are more inclined to seek her out while women hang back. Men use left side of the brain; women use both sides, this contributes to their differences in openness to risk and creativity. Women are really hesitant to contribute to this woman's newspaper especially under the pressure of deadlines. Men rarely turn down the opportunity, and she suggests it has to do with ego, getting themselves out there, getting noticed.
Nemko, Marty. "Men Driven to an Early Grave"
Basically says that men are stressed out from working such long hours while many wives stay home. Says that men working these long hours is causing them to die sooner and there are 5 widows for every widower. Study showed that women from Harvard Business School only 38% from 3 classes were working full time. 92% of workplace deaths occur to men. Many women use the "it's better for the children", "taking care of kids and home is a full time job", "being a homemaker is at least as stressful as being in the work world", and "I don't have your earning power" as excuses for not working full time. Women are bigger spenders than men. Says men's reward for working so hard is an early grave. Therefore, men should consider having an open discussion with his wife about work and money. Also elite colleges should tell students the expect them to put their degree to use because being a good parent doesn't require an elite degree.
CollabBrowne, Kingsley, discussing Coed-Combat on the Volokh Conspiracy blog, 12-3- 12/8/07.
Basically the argument that there are no substantial tradeoffs involved in including women incombat roles are wrong. Inclusion of women in those roles results in a segment of the force that is physically weaker, more prone to injury (both physical and psychological),less physically aggressive, able to withstand less pain, less willing to take physical risks, less motivated to kill, less likely to be available to deploy when ordered to (partly, but not exclusively because of pregnancy), more expensive to recruit, and less likely to remain in the service even for the length of their initial contracts. Officers and NCOs must reassign physical tasks (or do them themselves) because women cannot get them done fast enough, if at all. The fact that women, in general, are less effective warriors is only part of the problem. The more fundamental problem comes from the mixing of men and women in combat forces, which creates a variety of problems for reasons rooted in our evolutionary history. Women frequently are placed in units with men who do not trust the women with their lives and who do not bond with women the way that they do with other men.
CollabRosemary Mariner, for Coed Combat on Volokh Conspiracy blog 12-21-07.
Basically the counter argument to the other collab article on women in the armed forces. She argues that Prof. Browne's assertions that having women in military groups adversely affects cohesion are not supported by research. A 1997 RAND study conducted to assess military effectiveness after the expansion of women's roles concluded "that divisions caused by gender were minimal or invisible in units with high cohesion." A 1999 GAO report on perceptions of readiness in selected units opened to women in 1993 concluded: "most men and women agreed that women either affected readiness no differently from men or affected readiness positively or very positively. "The published research suggests that gender itself has no affect on cohesion in military groups.
Tierney, John. "What Women Want," New York Times, 5/24/05.
Basically they are exploring whether women would make as much as men in the work force, if the typical blamable factors were eliminated (sexism, family life etc) They did a study in which men and women were compensated for the math problems they did in a given period of time; the next round was a competition the winner would be compensated at a higher rate than before but the loser would receive nothing. While women made equivalent sums to men in both categories, but more often women declined to compete in the second round, while men more often chose the competition. So the gender gap in theory can be attributed to women lessened appetite for competition. This can be related to social influences but this article argues its largely innate, a byproduct of evolution and testosterone. However, one business analyst said companies run by women have a healthier, more productive culture within the company. He says its not fair to deny women the job opportunity but its unrealistic to expect equal numbers in this field.
Morris, Betsy. "Executive Women Confront Midlife Crisis," Fortune, Sept. 1995. "Female super earners: Bad for marriage?" The Week 2011
Basically women are outpacing men in the workforce and neither gender is handling this power shift all that successfully. Socially there is still a sense that men should be the providers, and no other 'outlets' for male masculinity have been found. Men are 61% more likely to say they are unhappy when the wife works more. Male unemployment increase the odds of divorce, high earning men with high earning wives have more health problems, men who earn less than their wives are more likely to cheat on them. Similar problems are being seen in Europe. People are "cautiously optimistic" about egalitarian marriages.
Purifoy, Frances E. and Lambert H. Koopmans. "Andostenedione, Testosterone, and Free Testosterone Concentration in Women of Various Occupations," Social Biology 26(3), Fall 1979, p. 179.
Certain chemicals, including testosterone, were correlated w/ occupational status in 55 "normal" (their word) females. Levels were higher in students, professional/managerial/technical workers in comparison to clerical workers/housewives. Testosterone levels also correlated w/ complexity of job. This reflects biological & environmental causes in hormone-behavior feedback. Says some findings that we've heard a million times: -Sex differences cause diff sexes to learn certain behaviors. Boys more aggressive, girls more social, passive and accommodating to environmental impositions. Male animals w/ testosterone more aggressive. Female monkeys given testosterone during pregnancy show male behavior, females w/ testosterone secretion during prenatal development show tomboyish behavior.
Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don't Understand, pp. 236-237.
Discusses different conversational styles at the workplace among equal men and women (all bank officers). -Men were more relaxed regardless of whether or not women were present, women were in "ladylike" postures -Alone, men talk about business, food, activities & plans -Women talk about relationships and people. -When men and women are together, they have conversational styles similar to the all-male style of conversation. This might have implications for same-sex schooling or why women have difficulty talking at meetings
Shankar Vedantam. "Salary, Gender, and the Social Cost of Haggling"
Grad student females complained of not teaching a class unlike the males were. Dean said it was b/c women didn't approach him like the men did and say they wanted to teach a course. Gender differences in asking for pay raises, resources and promotion. Women are more hesitant to ask for pay raises than men and women aren't as well received when they do because it's not seen as an attractive quality. Women are also less likely to negotiate if they are dealing with a man. B/c men are more aggressive which is a combination of genetics and upbringing.
Stahl, Leslie. "Staying at Home"
There are women of real power today and a lot of them have the ability to hold high power jobs yet are walking away to stay home. Women cite that they want to be with their kids more and watch them grow up. Women are choosing dependence. Hirshman (lawyer and author) thinks this will cause a backlash and hurt women in the workplace because companies and grad schools will see this trend and stop selecting as many women. Everyone really wants a part time situation that is suitable. Companies should try letting them work part time or let them go and bring them back later. Overall, make changes to the work environment so that women can work differently than they do now.
Elizabeth Becker and Cotton Lindsay, "Assortative Mating or Glass Ceiling: Under- Representation of Female Workers Among Top Earners," in Solomon Polachek, ed., Accounting for Worker Wellbeing, Research in Labor Economics, vol 23, Selections.
It discusses the perceived phenomenon of the "glass ceiling" experienced by some groups such as women or minorities. In 1994 only two of the Fortune 1500 companies had female CEOs. The article seeks to examine the presence and influence of bias in executive talent. However, this article says that although the numbers reflect under representation of these groups in this sector, it is not necessarily attributable to company or hiring bias. Specifically that women themselves self- select out of the competition for a position, thus contributing to their under representation in executive positions. The article frames its argument in a very complex way, but in lamens terms their theory is as follows: productivity and leadership (desired executive qualities) are predicted by someone's level of intelligence, men and women mate with a partner of their equivalent intelligence level, also observed that women's participation in the work force declines as their spouse generates more income. (So basically saying that two people got together because they had similar intelligence thus executive potential, but when the husband reaches that executive level, instead of the equivalently intelligent woman doing the same, her participation in work decreases, thus withdrawing her from the potential for an executive level position.) So basically its saying that the women in the applicant pool are on average less intelligent because it is assumed their husbands are of equal intelligence and thus earning a lesser income which does not affect her level of participation in the workforce. The reasoning behind dropping out of the work force is related to career sacrifices for family or parental obligations. Conclusion: intelligent women are underrepresented in the labor force, however, those who are of high intelligence will often be unmarried without family, thus bias from above is not necessarily entirely culpable for the glass ceiling, in part the actions of women are. (this is a really radical conclusion...)
Donna St. George. "Part-Time Looks Fine to Working Mothers"
Majority of working moms in the U.S. would be happiest working part time jobs. 60% prefer part time, but only 24% of them work part time. Workplace policies have been slow to accommodate parents at a time when raising children has become a more intensive, involved enterprise. Young people are more family centric than the baby boomers. Fathers were more interested in full time work (72%). Moms who stayed at home gave themselves higher parenting ratings than full time moms. Moms with the least education also gave themselves the highest ratings. Problem now is that a lot of companies can't offer part time work.
Reread Shankar Vendantam, "Study Ties Wage Disparities to Outlook on Gender Roles," Washington Post, 9//22/08 [also included with Week 2 reading].
Men with egalitarian attitudes about the role of women in society earn significantly less on average than men who hold more traditional view's about women's place in the world. Traditional-minded men earned 11930 more on average than egalitarian-minded men. However, women with the traditional outlook earned the least, the gender gap between traditional-minded men and women was more than 10x as large as the gap between egalitarian-minded people. The theory follows that maybe traditional men are hypercompetitive salary negotiators or that men who are egalitarian are seen as effeminate. This disparity might decrease as the egalitarian stance becomes more widely mainstream.
Hakim, Catherine. Work Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century.
There are polarization trends among women. 1. Women do not automatically become career oriented just because they are highly qualified. 2. Women were divided into 3 distinct groups: careerists, workers, & familists 3. The minority of couples treating both careers as having equal weight or giving priority to the wifes career were generally childless. Most women without kids worked full time and 2/3 of moms were full time homemakers (1960 study). Polarization of women's sex role preferences. 4. Polarization of attitudes within the workforce: a majority of women and men believe the male should be the breadwinner and women in the home sphere. Women working part time or staying at home mostly support this view, but women working full time reject this. Some at college for career and others the "marriage career" 5. Part time workers express higher satisfaction with their relatively low grade and low paid jobs than full time workers 6. Polarization of women's employment; gap between women who view themselves as primary vs. secondary earners
Anonymous (UVA alum class of 1999), "one woman's decision," May 2011.
Story of a random girls life, (im gonna just time line I guess?) She had her first daughter and planned to take some time off afterward, but she couldn't do this because she and her husband would not be able to purchase a home. So she worked part-time, the firm seemed family friendly. However, part-time status affected her standing as an associate, her limited availability greatly affected her influence with in the biglaw company. She realized the long hours and last minute travel that accompanied law was alright as a 20 smething but not as a 30 something. She chose to maintain her limited hours during maternity leave, and returned on the expected date, unlike a similar coworker who was the highest earner and came back early from her leave, resuming the constant travel. To this author the promotion seemed to be more important to her work associate. Another associate not eligible for maternity leave chose to be in the office although her twins were born premature and had to stay in the hospital extensively. She became pregnant with her second child 6 weeks into returning to work (ew). During her second maternity leave she worked a great deal less. She came back to work again, it was more stressful, and it was obvious to those around her she was not into promotion. She decided that the burden of uninteresting work and her pride was too much. To accommodate her not working they had to move out of DC and the moved to cville while her husband lived at her parents house during the week and came home on weekends. She documented that the difference between her and her associates was the dependency of the family on their incomes, her family was not while the other women's families were. Honestly this article is irrelevant, its just about one woman's decision to choose family over her career... so whatever you take out of that go for it.
Christina Hoff Sommers, "Fair Pay is Not Always Equal Pay"
Talks about the paycheck fairness bill, which would make it easier to file suits relating to sex based pay discrimination. Author does not support it because discrimination pays a little role in pay disparities and it would put ridiculous requirements on employers to correct gaps over which they have little control. Every $ men earn, women earn just .77. Reasons include differences in education, experience, and job tenure, which narrows the gap considerably. Young, childless, single urban women actually earn 8% more than male counterparts b/c more of them have college degrees. Pay gap may be a result of individual choices made by men and women. Women are more likely to leave the work force, take lower pay b/c they value benefits like family friendly environments. Bill would hold employers liable for the lingering effects of past discrimination when choices may have a lot to do with it. The Paycheck Fairness bill would set women against men, empower trial lawyers and activists, and perpetuate falsehoods about the status of women in the workplace and create havoc in the job market.
Tannen, Deborah. "The Glass Ceiling: Talking 9 to 5": jumped around a lot so a bunch of random stuff about why women aren't advancing in the workplace like men
The glass ceiling: an invisible barrier that seems to keep women from rising to the top. Most executives and managers are overwhelmingly male. When it comes time for a promotion women do a number of things to their disadvantage: 1. Women portray less confidence than men 2. Young men are more outgoing to approach their bosses and people higher up in the company to make their name known 3. Men are better at getting their work recognized, while women do not want to come off as boasting 4. Different conversational styles: when talking about their work and accomplishments men mostly say "I" where women say "we"; some seeing women's conversational styles as being indecisive, unauthoritative, or even incompetent which hurts their chances of promotion; Women also do not generally vocalize what they're doing to make things run smoothly and when there is no problem people don't really pay attention to the woman's achievement 5. Women are more likely to take into account people's emotions before talking so they are not as direct. For example a female doctor came off as not knowing what she was talking about b/c she was trying to not freak a mom out about the condition of her baby when she knew perfectly well how to describe it. 6. Many women claim to not be comfortable standing out and when it comes to higher tasks they would rather be assigned it rather than speak up and take it 7. Women are also more hesitant to risk 8. Men establish higher up relationships that give them an upper edge on promotions while women are less likely to play that role. 9. Men and women who do not conform to expectations for their gender may not be well liked.
Williams, Joan. "Why Moms Stay Home"
The number of stay at home mothers full time has increased 13 in the last decade. The number of stay at home fathers has also jumped 18%. Why? Because of the economy. America's workers put in longer hours. Working long hours is a male phenomenon and homemakers are a female phenomenon. Dual families work far longer hours than in other countries. Women ultimately are left with 3 choices: remain in a good full time job that keeps them away from home, work part time with depressed wages, or quit their jobs. Many women are choosing to quit and model the breadwinner/homemaker model. 2 drawbacks to this model: if there is a divorce women are more prone to poverty and children may actually receive less parental attention particularly from fathers which has a big effect. We need corporate and public policies that are family friendly, and to end the family hostile work environment.
Hymowitz, Carol. "Women Put Noses to the Grindstone, And Miss Opportunities," Wall Street Journal, 2/3/04.
The traits that make women excel in academic work (organization, diligence, ability to follow instructions) is not propelling them in the corporate ladder climb. What is rewarded rather is daringness, assertiveness and ability to self-promote, which men more typically demonstrate. 9.9% of women hold corporate officer jobs (non staff) "overseeing the business that earns money" compared to the 90.1 % of men that do. Reasoning: male executives reluctance to mentor women, women's exclusion from formal networks, bias against women for tougher roles, personal female struggles to balance work and family. What some cite as a major flaw is women's belief that their hardwork will be fairly rewarded, without self-promotion, which is not necessarily the case. In conclusion: women need mentors to navigate the corporate world that values traits that don't necessarily come easily or naturally to women. However, there is still a reluctance to trust women with the lifeblood of the company.
COLLAB Williams, Joan. "Deconstructing Gender," in Bartlett and Kennedy, pp. 95-123.
This article is horribly written and REALLY confusing. I'm not sure why she needs this many pages to basically say that women need to change gender roles....... She criticizes the idea of "feminism of difference" or the idea that men and women have different voices b/c it perpetuates stereotypes. She criticizes "relational feminism" because it suggests that domesticity is a haven from capitalism She points to a case called EEOC vs. Sears where Sears claimed that women employees were underrepresented in commission sales because they lacked interest. Her basic conclusion about this is that stereotypes of relational feminism were perpetuated and ultimately harmed women. The gender system of male as laborers impoverishes women b/c they have to "choose" against being ideal workers. She gives three options : (1) women rebelling against traditional role and becoming ideal workers (2) both men and women giving a little (3) changing the structure of wage labor. This is the core and would include flex-time, 4 day work weeks. She claims w need to make a rule that is not sex-neutral, but gender neutral and deinstitutionalizes gender.
Kimura, Doreen. "Commentary on the Report of the 5th Canadian Conference of Women in Engineering, Science and Technology, York University, August 1992," CAUT Bulletin, 1994.
This is a negative response to a published report. The report said that there are fewer women in science b/c of (1) systemic & overt discrimination and 2) lack of appropriate mentors. The proposed remedies include support and access to training, jobs, scholarships The author of this article basically criticizes the report b/c she doesn't think that there is much evidence for discrimination. She is against affirmative action to get women in science because it would exclude better-qualified and more interested men, in addition to lowering admission standards. Despite the report's claim that the number of women in engineering schools is leveling out, Kimura claims that half the students in medicine are women. Kimura believes the explanatory factors are (1) intrinsic ability difference, (2) women's preference for people-oriented jobs, not object-oriented jobs and (3) greater commitment to family. She cites studies that show the math difference between men and women. She states that individuals w/ greater math ability are more likely to be in sciences that demand that ability. Her conclusion is that young women should keep their options open and that making programs geared specifically towards women will not achieve equity or promote the aim of the sciences.
Hines, Melissa (and Kimura response). "Sex Ratios at Work," Scientific American, 2/93.
This is a negative response to the Kimura article and then Kimura responds to that. Hines suggests that Kimura's findings are misleading and that biological foundation for occupational sex segregation is not shared by all sciences. Sex differences don't develop independent of social influences. She says Kimura overstates the standard deviation for differing abilities. The major determinants are economic & political, not hormonal. It's hard to explain the shift in teaching & secretarial work from men to women (men once held these jobs) with biology Kimura responds by upholding biology. She states a recent report showing that girls w/ high math scores have interests that suit them for nonscience fields, and this isn't necessarily b/c of socialization. She again claims that there's no evidence for discrimination; she believes it's self-selection.
Dabbs, James M. "Testosterone and Occupational Achievement," Social Forces 30(3), March 1992, p. 813.
This is an abstract and first para of an article. Men w/ high levels of testosterone have lower-status jobs. This supports a model that suggests that through high testosterone, lower intellectual ability, antisocial behavior & lower education lead away from white collar jobs. Biology acts on thoughts, feelings & behavior; some research shows that job satisfaction is heritable Other traits associated w/ high testosterone are dominance, aggression, antisocial behavior, sensation seeking, low verbal intelligence
David Brooks, "In Praise of Dullness," The New York Times, 5/19/09.
This is an op-ed piece that looks at personality traits according to personality tests taken by CEOs. The most important things are not about building relationships (strong people skills) or being emotionally sensitive, but rather execution, conscientiousness, and and strong attention to detail. CEOs w/ law or MBA degrees don't do better than CEOs w/ college degrees. One study showed that CEOs became less effective as they became more famous. Article suggests that the Obama administration's regulations will make for a revolution in values. In Washington, CEOs are having to act like politicians (i.e. charismatic, charming, strong personal skills) and the author suggests that when this has occurred in other countries, they have lost their competitive edge.
"Working Women," The Washington Post, March 7, 1999.
This is just 5 bullet points (literally) about the fact that more women are working in the US than ever before. Here are the bullets: -36% of firms in the US are owned by women -Between 1987 & 1997, the number of business owned by women increased by 89% -By 1997, there were 8.5 million businesses owned by women: employed 23.7 million people, generating 3.1 trillion in sales -Firms owned by women are as financially strong & credit-worthy of average US companies, regardless of size -Women's businesses more likely to have websites than men's businesses, also more likely to offer flex-time, tuition reimbursement & profit sharing than businesses of the same size.
Downey, Kristin. "Women Rising in Corporate Ranks, Report Says," Washington Post, 11/19/02.
This is just a lot of stats. Basic idea is that women hold more corporate officer positions in Fortune 500 companies. Director for the Institute of Women's Policy Research was quoted and said that having more women in executive position is good bc they do more for other women. She denies the fact that women are dropping out of the labor force.
Walter, Erica. "Cops and Gender P.C.," American Enterprise, June 2005.
This is kind of ridiculous....actually really ridiculous. It talks about three criminal incidents (including the Rodney King arrest) where women cops led to disastrous effects. In one case, a rape convict stole a gun from a female guard and shot four people. He was stopped by a woman who gained his trust and spoke to him, "cooked him breakfast, listened to him, opened up her heart...". The female officer giving orders to Rodney King caused him to "gyrate his fanny" in a sexually suggestive fashion and the riots that resultsed killed 34 and injured about 1000. (all because of a female guard, obviously). The article suggests that police is a helping position and women should be put in human relations positions bc they're not as strong as women....
Welfare State and Women's Labor Force Participation"
Two sociologists looked at the welfare state in various countries about gov't being a provider of services, the state as an employer, and overal size of the public service sector. They found that the labor force participation rate among women was strongly and positively correlated with well developed welfare states in each of the three components. Women's odds of employment are almost 3 times higher in countries with a large welfare state. However, state internventions simultaneously raise women's odds of being confined to female typed occupations and lowering odds of being in managerial and lucrative positions.
Landsburg, Steven. "The Price of Motherhood"
Women agonize over the tradeoff among family and career. Amalia Miller did an economic study to think about tradeoffs: 1. A woman in her 20s will increase her lifetime earnings by 10% if she delays the birth of her first child by a year partly b/c she'll earn higher wages for the rest of her life. 2. Compared 24 yr. old and 25 yr. old moms who had miscarried at 24 3. Compared 25 yr. old moms with 24 yr. old moms who conceived while using birth control 4. Compared 24 and 25 yr. old women who at 23 were trying to get pregnant. 5. All 3 came to the same conclusion that those who delayed a year had higher lifetime earnings, thus early motherhood is not only correlated with low wages, but it actually causes them.
Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, "Fixing the Economy: It's Women's Work," Washington Post, 7/12/09.
Women in the workforce might be the needed fix for our struggling economy and important to our economic strength worldwide. Companies with more women in senior management roles make more money. Traits that were once disparaged in the 90s are now very popular in the 21st century. Certain studies found that all that was needed was 3 women, 3 women at the senior position placed companies at a higher level of excellence. Men are more prone to risk taking and competition while women are wired for collaboration, caution, and oriented towards long-term results. Women don't take win big, but they also don't lose big—their returns are more often consistent. The article also discusses the "diversity prediction theorem": basically that a diverse group will solved a complicated business problem better than a homogenous group. However women are still leaving the work field in droves as a response to family pressures, so the work place needs to be more accommodating of personal lives.
" Sex Bias Cited in Vocational Ed," Washington Post, 6/16/02.
Women's Law Group filed petitions requesting investigations that vocational and technical high schools violate Title 9. They suggest that girls are clustered into classes that lead to traditionally female jobs like cosmetology whereas boys are in technology/trades classes. The wages for those "male jobs" are considerably higher than those of females. The investigators found that there is no requirement for data collections and many states didn't have Title IX coordinators (which goes against the law). One director of a girls program claimed that girls aren't advised about options in different trades and that they face discrimination once they are there. Teachers aren't willing to advocate for their students. The Bush policy towards single-sex education is making this worse. Arguments for the dismissal of Title IX harm women because it gets women into college (but even still, women in Division I colleges don't get much scholarship money)