Women Gender study paper writing and reading intensive Best helper Need
Gender at Work
WGS 101 Fall 2018
Gender Divide: Highest Paying Occupations (2015)
Source: Washington Center for Equitable Growth
Gender Divide: Lowest Paying Occupations (2015)
Source: Washington Center for Equitable Growth
Gender Earnings Ratio 1955 - 2017
Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Average Annual Earnings & Earnings Ratio Race & Gender
Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Understanding the Persistence of Job Segregation
• England argues that ‘equal opportunity individualism’ and ‘gender essentialism’ explain the persistence of gender segregation at work
• Acker argues “Inequality Regimes” create & perpetuate existing race, class & gender inequalities at work
The More Things Change… • The ‘gender revolution’ resulted in uneven changes in women’s &
men’s lives • Laws against discrimination don’t address the persistence of
inequalities rooted in gender essentialism • Women have made gains into male dominated fields with no reciprocal
movement of men into female dominated fields • Workplaces remain structured by a male breadwinner model / the
‘unencumbered worker’ (Acker 206) • Work traditionally done by women is still devalued (often unpaid) • The gender division of labor still holds
• A 2018 UN report shows women complete 2.6 times more unpaid domestic labor than men
• The hierarchical organization of women’s work vs. men’s work still impacts women as workers
Unencumbered Worker • The ideal worker is one without obligations outside of
work
• Home, family and/or kids are cared for by an unseen & unpaid laborer
• Based on breadwinner, heteronormative nuclear family model — doesn’t reflect growing number of families
• Assumes 1 wage earner per family unit
• Gender essentialism (and gender division of labor) places women at home doing unpaid work & men in the public sphere earning a living wage
The Glass Ceiling • Invisible barrier that blocks women
from top tier positions
• Suggests a single barrier but women face multiple challenges
• Broader definition: a ’cumulative disadvantage of blocked opportunities’ (Acker 200)
• Acker introduces ‘Inequality regimes’ as a more comprehensive conceptual strategy
Inequality Regimes
• An intersectional & ’analytic approach to identifying inequalities at work’ (Acker 201)
• Made up of ‘loosely interrelated practices, processes, actions, and meanings…’ (ibid)
Components of Inequality Regimes: The Bases of Inequality
• The bases of inequality — discernible patterns in the organization of inequality
• What patterns do we see among those in leadership positions?
• Hair color? Eye color?
• Leaders tend to be wealthy white men
• Those features (class, race, gender) are (some of) the bases of inequalities
• Inequalities are both created on the bases of these differences & perpetuate the differences we see in social life
Components of Inequality Regimes, Cont.
• Steepness of organizational hierarchy
• The distribution of power & privilege, inc., wages, decision-making & work load
• Degree & pattern of job segregation
• Extent to which diversity exists at all levels of workplace hierarchies