Women and Work

1. Women and Work

2. An Interesting Topic • By virtue of your college degree, you will/ are likely enter the paid workforce • variety of issues you will face, so be prepared • Today, more than 50% of women hold paying jobs, so she is not an anomaly but the NORM

3. Outline of Presentation • History of Women and Work • Where are we today • Factors that affect women in the workplace • How the wage gap affects salaries • Effects of work on a woman’s personal life

4. History of Women and Worksome info from Women Working by Stromberg & Harkness, 1988 • Women are not new to concept of work • differences we see today were prompted by industrial age • Colonial America-- work roles for men & women more equitable than today • frontier conditions, agrarian duties meant everyone worked hard

5. Colonial America • Men and women had many shared activities, worked as part of household economy, gender roles more fluid • but tasks generally assigned by age and sex • wives had exclusive responsibility for mgmt. of household economy • women helped with bookeeping, supervised workers, collected debts, ordered materials • men assumed discipline/soc. of children

6. Colonial America • Women typically had 7-9 children • roles were physically demanding- made soap, candles, fabric, clothes, chopped wood, prepared meals, cared for children • many served as midwives, dispensed herbs • all women operated under constraints of English legal system

7. English Law in America • 3 basic assumptions about women: • women depended on men, this was necessary & proper • English law dictated that property mgmt. & public affairs best left to the man • interests of husband and wife were the same- so whatever husband wanted was naturally what wife wanted as well • Surest way to property was thru widowhood

8. Industrial Era- early 1800s • People moving Westward • agriculture becoming commercialized • ** Indust. Rev. dramatically changes relationship of individuals to their work • work and home roles become more separate • men increasingly work outside home for paid wage • women’s domestic work still exhausting but a little better

9. Industrial Era • Women becoming more involved in socialization of children • women also expected to attend to husband’s emotional as well as physical needs • ** gradual but perhaps biggest change: the absence of men from the household also reduced the social visibility of women’s domestic work

10. The (de-) value of domestic work • Women at home perceived to be in leisurely role • men associated home with rest, relaxation, place of seclusion from stress • because men didn’t associate home with work, they also failed to associate women with work

11. Women and work during 1800s • Yes, some women in paid labor force • 1890 estimate to be 5% • most worked in textile factories • those who remained in the home often took on laundry, sewing, piecework for others • By end of 19th C. large corporations beginning to form, govt. expands, increase in immigration, transportation, communication

12. Expansion of work roles • Late 19th C. changes meant gradual increases in work opportunities for women • greatest expansion 1890-1940 • women in clerical & sales jobs: • 1900 - 8% • 1940 - 29% • women also move into teaching • most opportunities only for white women

13. Early- Mid 1900s • Despite high unemployment rates, men did not displace women employees. WHY? • Despite public ambivalence, women in workforce rose rapidly after 1940s • WWI and WWII - mass media campaigns to get women into traditional male jobs • then 1950s - mass media campaign to urge women back into the home

14. Mid- late 1900s • 1950s and 1960s - social pressure to stay at home, increase in childbirths (also marriages and then divorces) • 1964 - Title 7 Equal Pay Act of Civil Rights Act passes and reinforces women in work • since 1940s women increasingly entering the workforce in all age brackets, with fastest increase in 20-34 year-olds

15. So Where Are We Today? • 1st quarter 2002: • 54.1 million men and 42.9 million women (16+ yrs) in the paid workforce • 70% men and 57% women in civilian labor force (US Dept Labor Stats) • unemployment rate about 6% overall • higher for women with children and minorities in general. If interested go to: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?lf

16. Factors that Affect Women in Workplace • Stereotypes • token employees • queen bees • Access Discrimination • Evaluation & Promotion Bias • Job Leaves • Sexual Harassment • Occupational Segregation • Salary Differentials

17. Why do these factors occur? In large part because of our social construction of gender!!

18. 2 primary causes of Wage Gap • Job Segregation - few jobs are held by 50% men, 50% women. Those held by women usually not valued nor paid as highly • Entitlement - individual’s sense of what s/he is entitled to receive in pay. • Examples of entitlement theory by B. Major

19. The Wage Gap in 2000http://feminist.com/fairpay/factsheets.htm • Women make 73 cents to man’s dollar, hovered between 70-74 cents thru 1990s • Median earnings: • men: $37,339 • women: $27,355 • Earnings for others as % of White Men: men women • black 78% 64% • Hispanic 63% 52% • Asian 105% 80%

20. Insert link to wage gap

21. More stats on women & work • 1993 - women without HS degree earned $14,700, compared to men at $21,402 • women with HS diploma earned $19,168, compared to men at $26,820 • women-headed households are worst: • married couple $43,129 • male head, no wife present $29,849 • female head, no husb. Present $18,545

22. Wage Gap by Education 1997 all FT workers, 25+ yrs. (US DoL,Census Bureau) HSGrad BA/BS MA/MS Doctorate Men White $31,195 47,220 60,081 71,423 Black $25,790 35,962 42,125 61,573 Hisp. $24,021 37,725 44,702 42,082 Women White $21,602 33,896 41,884 52,653 Black $19,993 31,010 40,589 40,342 Hisp. $19,247 31,993 41,554 55,956

23. 1999 UD College Grads from UD Career Plans Survey $ Male $ Female Ratio Agric. Sci. 33,905 25,667 0.76 A&S Human. 32,463 27,984 0.86 A&S Soc Sc. 29,694 26,538 0.89 A&S Life/Hlth. 30,000 27,827 0.93 A&S Phys. 35,504 34,331 0.97 B&E 36,215 33,049 0.91 Engineering 41,211 41,993 1.02 Hlth &Nursing 24,458 33,370 1.36 CHEP 27,527 28,470 1.03 Average 34,336 30,170 0.88

24. Have women broken the glass ceiling yet? • What factors affect the glass ceiling? • See Table 7.2 in Hyde women are 6.6% executives, minorities 2.6% • http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/e_archive/gov_reports/glassceiling/?page=home • http://glass-ceiling.com/

25. Global Connections of Poverty(B. Lott in Primis) • Although women are 50% of population, they own only 1% of world’s property and 10% of world’s income • conditions of women’s lives provide markers of poverty and hunger • Women comprise two-thirds of the world’s illiterate • even a little education for women pays dividends in every index of social progress and development.

26. Effects of Work on Woman’s Personal Life • Marriage • Household Tasks • Children • Personal Adjustment

27. Marriage • Employment = delayed marriage for many • Sure, it’s getting better but still the predominant ideology is that man’s job comes first - i.e., job transfers • hard for some dual career couples; women more likely to choose job to fit family • 3 kinds of marriage: • traditional, modern, egalitarian

28. Marital Bliss • In general, marriage not as satisfying for women • Jesse Bernard- studied mental & physical hlth of single and married men and women • found married men healthier, likelier to get better-paying jobs & higher pay than unm. • Married men commit fewer crimes, get fewer traffic tickets, live longer than unm m. • married women - 2 to 3 x more likely to report physical & emotional problems

29. Household Tasks • Household chores generally not fun for most • dissatisfaction with inequity in household tasks perhaps one if not greatest difficulties • In 1971 38% men did little/no housework • today changing, but after last 25 years still not equal efforts • the double disadvantage • women who work outside the home the most dissatisfied with task division

30. Household Tasks • Keep in mind--housework generally not a seen, and therefore not a valued task • J. Birnbaum (75) found homemakers to have lowest SE (women who had BA) • social isolation, lack of reward for job well done, financial dependence create feelings of frustration, little control

31. Children • 1980s was 1st time more than 1/2 all mothers with children under 6 yrs in labor force • much stress, guilt, mommy wars • big debates about quality of child care • 1993 Family & Medical Leave Act • time off can be costly for many years

32. Children in Day Care • Early research said separation of mother & child had negative effects • findings from early studies (some argue) based on poor methods, biased samples, misleading statements • other studies show preschoolers in day care not signif. different from those at home • Belsky & Steinberg (78) day care may intellectually benefit some children

33. Day Care • Some argued that day care = impersonal trtmnt, aggressive behavior, more illness • others report day care children show better social adjustment, no difference in later school achievement, girls may have advantage seeing mom role model, encourages independence, daughters of working moms less gender stereotyped

34. Personal Psychological Adjustment • 2 hypotheses on women in work: • scarcity - work makes one feel tired, overwhelmed, unable to do all tasks • enhancement - work gives one more energy • certainly many experience role strain, but that can be minimized (some good, some bad ways)

35. Physical Health • Role strain could lead to poor health, but some studies show that employed women are healthier • WHY? • Many find work mentally stimulating, encourages social interaction, meet/work with people with similar interests, increases self-esteem • read A. Hochschild’s The Second Shift

36. So what’s the right answer? • there is no perfect/right answer; it’s an individual decision • those women who can CHOOSE their role and decision of whether or not to enter the paid workforce are the happiest. • keep these points in mind as you enter or move to next level of your career