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.

3. Gender and Housework • 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

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, color 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

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. 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

8. ADA/Affirmative Action • 1990: Americans with Disabilities Act – prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities (employers must make reasonable accommodations) • 1960s: Affirmative Action – considering a potential employee’s sex/race when hiring

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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)

12. 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