Chapter 4: Reskin

1. Chapter 4: Reskin Job Sex Segregation

2. Activity • Pretend that we are putting on a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I want you to cast the main characters: Snow White Evil Witch Prince Seven Dwarfs (Dopey, Doc, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Happy Bashful)

3. Activity: • Write down one person who best represents (to you) the following concepts:

4. Job Sex/Race Segregation • Concentration of white men/white women/men of color/women of color in difference occupations, jobs, places of work. • This could be doing different tasks in the same setting or the same tasks in different settings

5. Why is job segregation important? • Separate is not equal. • Pay Gap • Promotion Gap. • When researchers describe as having mostly female, it is ranked lower in prestige.

6. Why does Job Segregation exist? • Benefits whites and men as a group by lowering competition.

7. History of Job Segregation • 1) During the late agricultural and early industrial era, job segregation was a way for men to assert their masculinity by making higher wages and holding higher positions. • 2) To challenge the masculinity of others, white men would break down job segregation by gender among people of color.

8. White Women were only allowed few jobs. Women of color even fewer and mainly in the informal sector…… • Clerks and teachers were once predominantly white male.

9. World War I • Bureaucracy feminized clerical work, Why? • 95% typists and stenographers were white female and 2/3 office clerks, as well as ½ bookkeepers, cashiers and accountants were white men. • Women and men of color were forced into agricultural work, dangerous work or service work that re-affirmed their servile status: porter, mailroom.

10. WW II • White Women were asked to be Rosie the Riveter: Interesting because women were asked to do things that they were told before their sex prevented them from doing. • What happened after the war?

11. Job Segregation Today • Job level Sex Segregation – specific positions with specific tasks in specific establishments. • Hard to measure because people hold different job titles even when they’re doing same tasks. • One study showed of 393 establishments, 30 employed only 1 sex, and 199 men and women didn’t share any job titles.

12. Occupational Sex Segregation– collection of jobs that involve similar activities in dfft places. • Often, people in the same occupation do different jobs in different places: bakers, for example.

13. 25% of men work in the 10 most common occupations for men • 33% of women work in 10 most common occupations for women. • Index of segregation: 53% of men would have to change jobs to disrupt segregation.

14. Race and Sex Segregation • There exists more sex segregation (twice as much) than race segregation, though it still holds true that women of color are more likely to work in the informal sector and people of color are more likely to work in “undesirable” jobs.

15. Feminization of occupations has occurred in many industries: • Clerks • Bakers • Accountants • When such feminization occurs, skills, wages and promotional opportunities decrease.

16. Causes for Sex Segregation • WHY does SS occur? • 1) Employers actions • Intentional discrimination – gatekeepers use stereotypes to determine who’s “best” for the job. • Discriminatory Employment practices • Using informal networks • Referrals • No On the Job Training for Women • Make schedules so finding daycare difficult

17. Solutions to Employers’ Practices • 1) Title VII of Civil Rights Act • 2) Affirmative Action

18. Causes Continued • 2) Male Workers’ Actions • Threat to masculinity • Fear of disruption of culture

19. Causes Continued • 3) Female Workers’ Actions • Human Capital Theory • Socialization Theory • Opportunities and Choices – sex labels of jobs deter, when women are given opportunities they tend to take them.