Ch. 8 – Gender, Employment, and the Economy

1. Ch. 8 – Gender, Employment, and the Economy Robert Wonser

2. Economy and Labor Force • Economy - system of managing its resources, both human and material. • Human resources of the economy constitute the labor force. • Work is both social as well as economic. • The social organization of work is hierarchical. • Work (as in “man’s work” and “women’s work”) is culturally proscribed not related entirely to actual abilities.

3. U.S. Working Women and Men in Historical Perspective • One of the most important changes: U.S. economy shifted from being predominantly agricultural to becoming industrial predominantly manufacturing (i.e. factory work). • Men worked in greater numbers than women. • Dominant middle-class ideology: ‘true’ women stayed at home and supposedly did not work. • However, women in poor and working-class families, women rearing children alone, women of color, and immigrant women—few could afford to stay at home. • 1800: 5% of women worked outside of the home, 1900: 30% in large cities. • Manufacturing jobs: White women predominantly. • Women of color were more likely to be in the paid labor force but for less money and in agricultural work, domestic work, and laundry work.

4. And then came WWII … • The U.S. economy reversed itself during WWII. • Wartime production boom created jobs for millions of women. • Women worked in record numbers but also held jobs previously only held by men. Ex: welding, riveting, ship fitting and tool making. • Government recruited women to work by appealing to patriotism and with incentives (e.g. urging employers to pay women the same as men, public day care centers). • War ended: women laid off to make room for the returning men. • Federal war programs then urged women to return to their “normal” roles as wives and mothers at home, oh and they canceled the war programs (ones listed above).

5. Ahh, quaint old propaganda!

6. Notice how the employment rate for women never quite returned the prewar levels? • Also note the drastic increase from 1965 and beyond.

7. Increased Employment for Women • Some women did quit their jobs and birth rates soared • As much as 80% of women who did quit wish they’d kept their jobs. • Many stayed employed but downgraded (in pay and status) to traditional women’s labor. • 1965: women’s life expectancy increased and their fertility rate decreased compare with earlier generations (in in Baby boom years!). •  fewer years spent raising children, greater freedom to pursue paid labor. • Rising divorce rate also affected women's employment.

8. Sex Segregation in the Workplace • Occupational Sex Segregation refers to the degree to which men and women are concentrated in occupations in which workers of one sex predominate. • A commonly used measure of sex segregation is the dissimilarity index, also called the sex segregation index and sometimes D. • Its value is reported as a percentage that tells us the proportion of workers of one sex that would have to change to jobs in which members of their sex are underrepresented in order for the occupational distribution between the sexes to be fully balanced.

9. For the U.S., 38% of the female labor force would have to change jobs in order to equalize their representation across occupations. • D has declined steadily since 1970. • Weakness of D: depends on occupational classifications. • also masks industry-wide and establishment sex discrimination.

11. Worth noting about the previous chart: • Small numbers have entered sex atypical positions but many more men and women have entered sex-typical jobs. •  the increase in labor force participation has somewhat offset the decrease in occupational sex segregation. • Thus, women’s chances of sharing the same job as a man has declined and evidence indicates that workers who hold sex atypical jobs leave them at a disproportionate rate. • Bottom line: there have been steady improvements but occupational sex segregation remains a feature of the U.S. labor market as well as labor markets throughout most of the word. Precise reads are complicated by: • 1) # of women in some occupations has been so low that it doubling, tripling or tenfold increasing does not mean that large numbers of women now hold these jobs or that they are no longer male-dominated. • 2) in recent years, several female-dominated occupations grew even more females dominated (e.g. book keepers).

12. Occupational Sex Segregation • Is also complicated by other factors: • Age (younger  lower dissimilarity) • Education (women's level of education is negatively correlated with level of occupational sex segregation). • Race and ethnicity (a good deal of occupational shifting among minority women workers in recent years has been from one female-dominated job to another). • Even minority men haven’t fared too well. Race may be a tougher barrier than sex. • Occupational resegregation sex-integrated occupations become resegregated with members of one sex replaced by members of the opposite sex as the predominate workers. May cause men to leave a profession because they see it as declining in skill, prestige and salary. Ex: bank-telling. • Industry sex segregation occurs when women and men hold the same job title in a particular field or industry but actually perform different jobs. (Ex: baking and coal mining). • Establishment sex segregation occurs when women and men hold the same job title at an individual establishment or company, but actually do different jobs. (Ex: law firms; men – corporate and commercial law and women: family law).

13. Consequences of Occupational Sex Segregation • One serious one: limits employment opportunities (of both sexes). • tokenism the marginal status of a category of workers who are relativelyfew numbers in the workplace. According to Kanter, tokens are “often treated as representatives of their category, as symbols rather than as individuals.” • Tokens are more closely scrutinized  puts pressure and stress. • Tokens also experience boundary heightening where dominant workers tend to exaggerate the differences between themselves and the tokens and to treat them as outsiders. • Although men and women in sex-atypical jobs encounter discrimination, its forms and consequences differ significantly depending upon the job holder’s sex.

14. Glass Things that hinder or help • Glass ceiling refers to the invisible barriers that limit workers’—typically women workers’ and racial and ethnic minority workers’—upward occupational mobility. • men in sex-atypical occupations often receive preferential treatment in hiring and, instead of encountering a glass ceiling, ride a glass escalator up the hierarchy of these professions. • Men in female dominated positions feel “in control” • women in male dominated positions feel intimidated and controlled.

15. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace • Men rarely experience it, 42 – 88% of women workers experience sexual harassment at some point in their work lives. • Consequences are serious and harmful • Most women still do not make official complaints. • Serious consequence of sex segregation.

16. The Male/Female Earnings Gap • 1960-1990: Women earned 59-70% of what male workers earned • 2001: gender gap – 76%

17. Higher the job status and pay—and therefore the higher the educational requirements to fill it—the greater the disparity in wages between African Americans and White men who held the same positions. • Education matters less than race and ethnicity in affecting the wages of female workers as well. • Overall, women who have dropped out of HS earn 40% as much as women who have graduated from college. • Research shows that female (but not male) employees who have children pay a motherhood wage penalty of 5-13%. • One study (2001) found a wage penalty of 7%, when controlled for the lack of experience due to time out for child care: 5% wage penalty per child. • Recent stats indicate: minorities and women are more likely than Whites and men to be hired as contingent workers, temp employees, on-call workers and day laborers. • Women more likely than men to be employed in minimum wage jobs than in salaried occupations. Men hourly wage: $10.31 (in 1999), women's: $8.64

18. The Earnings Gap, Poverty, and Welfare Policy • 10.5% of the White pop is officially poor • 12.5% of the Asian pop is officially poor • 26.1% of the Black pop is officially poor • 25.6% of the Latino pop is officially poor • 31.2% of the Native American pop – poor • Race and ethnicity have a greater impact on unemployment that sex does. • Ehrenreich’s study • “near poor” having an income 125% of the poverty threshold. • Working mothers fare financially worse than mothers on welfare. Work garnered 42% more pay but the expenses ate away this increase in pay. 40% in this study lacked health insurance. • Can you live quite well off welfare benefits? Not so much…. • Welfare and food stamps only provide about 2/3 needed each month • Only 7% of welfare recipient’s income is spent on unnecessary items

19. % of single mothers in the labor force (71.5%) is now higher than the % of married mothers in the labor force (68%). • Welfare reforms? Reduced # of people on welfare from 12.2 million in 1996 to 5.3 million in 2002. Where did they go?

20. Explaining the Wage Gap • Female dominated occupations usually pay less than male dominated occupations. • Women choose to invest less than men in employment outside the home, so they get less in return – human capital theory • Major weakness in HCT? Fails to distinguish between self-imposed job restrictions and structurally imposed ones. • Are non-employed mothers who cannot find affordable and reliable child care really making a “free choice” to stay out of the labor market? • Studies indicate: 5 out of 6 3omen would enter the labor force if they could find adequate child care • Majority of women with children DO work outside the home • Women value the same job rewards as men: good pay, autonomy, prestige, and promotions. • Choice to take male-dominated jobs? Constrained by its availability refers to not only a job opening, but the chance of being hired for the job, feeling welcome in the job, and succeeding in the job. • What message does lack of women in a job send to other women? • Greater the power of male workers in the workplace—the lower the presence of women in the occupation. • Evidence does not support human capital theory.

21. Gender and Homelessness • Homeless are diverse • Most are NOT severely mentally disturbed, nor do they have drug or alcohol problems. • All in common? Abject poverty • Groups usually poor are also more likely to be homeless • 46% - African Americans, 12% Hispanic Americans, 5% Native Americans • Fastest growing segment of homeless pop: young families with children • 2 or 3 kids, average child: 6, average parent: 27. • Vast majority homeless families: women with children. • Reasons: rising housing costs, shortage of low-income housing, inability to find adequate paying job leaving abusive husband/father. • Homelessness also breaks up families when they're forced to stay in separate shelters. • 1970s: deinstitutionalization movement increased the homeless ranks • Street life is more difficult for women.

23. The Intersection of Home and the Work World • Work done ion the home by women is not paid and not considered “real work” because of that fact. • Women’s jobs in the labor force are often an extension of their work at home. • Women’s work is devalued and remunerated at a substantially lower rate than men’s work. • 2nd shift • Child care is a major obstacle for working women. • Stereotypes against female workers: physically and emotionally incapable of performing certain jobs  justifies discrimination

24. The Intersection of Home and the Work World (cont) • Legislation such as Title VII, Executive Order 11246 and the Equal Pay Act is designed to protect workers of both sexes and racial and ethnic minorities from discriminatory employment practices. • Although they don’t equalize job opportunities or salaries, when enforced, they lessen inequalities.