Women’s Work

1. Women’s Work Inside and Outside the Home

2. Household Labor • Women do twice as much household labor as men (2006) • Married women spend 97 minutes per day doing housework while men spend 29 minutes (2009) • When women marry, they gain 14 hours a week of domestic labor, compared to 90 minutes for men (husband created labor) • Women do the bulk of ‘kin keeping’ – remembering birthdays, sending cards, buying holiday gifts, etc. • As children grow up and become more self-sufficient, housework demands for mothers may decline (Craig & Sawrikar, 2009). Some evidence suggests that adults become more supportive of gender egalitarianism over time (Fan & Marini, 2000), and husbands' participation in housework may increase over the course of marriage (Lam, McHale & Crouder, 2012)

3. Division of Labor • Among heterosexual couples, housework is often gendered • Women: laundry, cleaning, preparing and cleaning up meals • Men: bill paying , repairs, outside chores • Men “help” – implying it is the women’s responsibility and men are lending a hand • Among lesbian couples, partners reported that more tasks were done equally often by both partners, and the relative frequency of performing household labor was related to interest in household labor • Lesbian mothers are more likely than heterosexual parents to share responsibilities for childcare and paid employment equally (Patterson, Sutfin, & Fulcher 2004)

4. Paid Labor • It wasn’t until WWII that women began working in traditionally male jobs in large numbers • 1950s – backlash as women were sent home to focus on household appliances and babies (baby boom: 1946 – 1964) • 1960s and 1970s – Civil Rights movement and Women’s Rights movement fought for legislation to help women gain power in the workplace

5. Legislative Gains • 1963: Equal Pay Act – sought to prevent sex-based wage discrimination (equal pay for equal work) • 1964: Title VII of Civil Rights Act - prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin in organizations of 15 or more employees (expanded to include pregnancy in 1976) • 1993: Family and Medical Leave Act - unpaid leave and protection of employment if employee needs to care for a family member or is giving birth/adopting • 2009: Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - unfair pay complaints can be filed within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck—and that 180 days resets after each paycheck is issued

6. Sexual Harassment • Unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors • Quid pro quo: sexual favors required in return for various conditions of employment • Hostile Work Environment: being subjected to a pattern of harassment as part of the work environment

7. Sexual Harassment • It is unlawful to harass a person (an applicant or employee) because of that person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. • Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature, however, and can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general. • Both victim and the harasser can be either a woman or a man, and the victim and harasser can be the same sex. • Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that are not very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted). • The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer. (EEOC)

8. Age Discrimination • 1968: Age Discrimination in Employment Act – outlaws mandatory retirement and prohibits employers with 20 or more employees from discriminating on the basis of age (protects those age 40 and older) • Law was revised in 1978 and 1986, and restricted in 2005: employees now must prove intentional harm

9. ADA/Affirmative Action • 1990: Americans with Disabilities Act – prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities (employers must make reasonable accommodations unless they can show undue hardship) • 1960s: Affirmative Action – considering a potential employee’s sex/race when hiring - Congress enacted title VII in order to improve the economic and social conditions of minorities and women by providing equality of opportunity in the work place. These conditions were part of a larger pattern of restriction, exclusion, discrimination, segregation, and inferior treatment of minorities and women in many areas of life. The Legislative Histories of title VII, the Equal Pay Act, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 contain extensive analyses of the higher unemployment rate, the lesser occupational status, and the consequent lower income levels of minorities and women. (EEOC)

10. Dual Labor Market • Primary: relatively high wages and employee benefits, protection for workers • Secondary: lower wages, fewer benefits, less opportunity for advancement (majority of these workers are women and people of color) • Maintains system of inequality and privilege • Globalization: regional economies have become integrated through interconnected global network (wealthy nations have more influence)

11. Childcare • Only 1 in 5 families consists of a stay-at-home mother • Most childcare facilities are privately run and costly • As a result, many women work part-time so that they can also care for children, which affects their wages significantly over their lifetimes (and thus affects their Social Security income)

12. Women at Work • Occupational Segregation by gender – separating men and women into different jobs • Horizontal segregation – dividing men and women across different kinds of jobs • Vertical segregation – segregation within same type of job (women earn less and hold less prestigious positions) • Pink collar jobs – feminine occupations that are valued less than masculine occupations (service sector jobs working with people, children, cleaning, and administrative support)

13. Gender Wage Gap • Index of the status of women’s earnings relative to men’s (median annual earnings for women divided by median annual earnings for men) • For every $1 a man earns, a woman earns 77 cents (full time year round workers) • Why? • Horizontal segregation • Vertical segregation • Discrimination