Gender Differences In Non-Traditional Occupations

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

According to Metz (2011), women are being deprived of opportunities and being squeezed out of organisations due to preconceptions about their dedication to a long term role, based on outdated gender stereotypes. In general, women experience higher rates of harassment at work, compared to men(McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone 2012).

In today’s society it is still common to assign gender stereotype to specific career paths. Careers such as a construction worker, mechanic and electrician may be gender stereotyped as a man’s career and careers such as nursing, secretary, elementary school teachers and child care workers may be seen as a woman’s profession. I chose to analyze the concept of “ The Glass Escalator” by Adia Wingfield and relate it to two different news articles “ More men enter Fields Dominated by Women.” By Shaila Dewan and Robert Gebeloff and the article “Kudos for the Black Male Nurse” by Benjamin Greeen Jr. It has been encouraged for both men and women to take on occupational fields regardless of gender and race stereotypes. In Adia Wingfield’s study she also focuses on the inequality based off of race and gender in the work field for advancement in the a workplace. I decided to focus more on the subject of men just entering these different fields as an accomplishment.

Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).

Men and women could produce the same amount of work, but because the male is raised to a higher standard; the women’s work would be considered secondary. Despite the fact that men and women are as equal as they have ever been, this leads to the questions being asked: Why don’t women hold more than 15 percent of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions in the United States? Why do the average women still make seventy –seven pennies for every dollar made by the average male? Why does their representation rate remain below 20 percent in Congress? (Dorment) The difference is not in men and women; it is in masculine vs. feminine ways of thinking and acting. Both men and women incorporate masculine and feminine approaches.

Gender and work exist sociologically as a way to maintain both authority and inequality. Women’s roles throughout history shed a light on the expectations and stereotypes that exist today; however, navigating a gendered economy and overcoming sex segregation continues to be a challenging task for most women. Wages continue to be uneven, and wives continue to bear most of the child rearing and domestic responsibilities despite increasingly working the same amount as their husbands do. Becoming educated on these inequalities and viewing them with a sociological perspective will allow people to see gender and work in an accurate light and continue to develop

In ‘Just One of the Guys”, author Kristen Schilt discusses the persistence of workplace inequalities. She looks at the concept of “doing gender by exploring how cultural schemas and natural difference schema show the differences between man and women that contribute to work place inequalities” (Schilt pg. 170). This theory of doing gender looks at how male and females are, programmed by society from birth to act in certain ways and in accordance to their sex. That through the reproduction of, and based on the gender binary of male /female, individuals are taught how to do gender. These prompts of how to dress, walk, and talk, this assignment of activities that are suitable to women and men to reproduce this binary structure of masculinity and

In the book…. shows sexism in the role of the gender in the topic of occupations. First, the text shows an interview where a woman and a man are asked about where they work; the man is a reporter and the woman is a housewife. Instead of giving the woman a profession, the book gives her a role that is the classic job for a woman. Although, in the rest of the page are more occupations with women included, the assignments that the book present are the stereotype roles, for example doctor, waitress, and

Conversely, ingrained expectations that a male career takes precedence of woman’s is evident with the ever-present glass ceiling, glass cliff, and now the glass elevator. Predominately female occupations such as nursing, elementary education, and social work witness discriminatory practices labeled as the ‘glass escalator’ with men ascending to management positions at a greater rate (Goudreau, 2012; Eagly & Carli,

Modern day sexism can be a very delicate topic, but people need to recognize that it 's still a problem in the workplace. Before jumping to the conclusion that this is another extreme feminist perspective, it 's important to understand one thing. Although significant progress has been made in the past few decades, women are not treated as equal partners to men in the many job fields. Freida Pinto, the leading actress in Slumdog Millionaire was interviewed recently. She did an excellent job clarifying a common misunderstanding of feminism. "Feminism to me is equality. There is no man over woman and vice versa. Feminism is a very misconstrued and misunderstood topic. "As soon as we say feminism, it does not mean all men should become subordinate and women should be the ones who rule the world. The only way we can have a progressive and successful country or world is when men and women treat each other as equals." It 's sad to think that a term for someone who is in support of gender equality is now a negatively viewed thing. An important thing to remember is that gender equality means equality for both genders, and reverse sexism is not the solution. Once you grasp that it 's easier to understand modern day sexism.

To begin with three should be an examination of how “the persistence of gender ideologies” has affected equality in the workplace. As Kimmel states, “Since the early nineteenth century, the workplace has been seen as a masculine arena, where men could test and prove their manhood against other men in the dog-eat-dog marketplace” (Kimmel 249). This is still occurring

Women today have progressed to unprecedented levels, however, in all the ways women have advanced, “There has been remarkably little change in the gender balance of some of the most common occupations for either women or men during the last forty years “(p. 5). There was a large decline in the 80’s in workplace segregation, but since then, gender integration in the workplace has been relatively stagnant. This is largely related to the gender stigmas attached to fields such as teachers or health care workers that are largely dominated by women. There is an undeniable wage penalty for working in predominately female occupations that also deters men from these fields. The Department of Labor suggests many possible policies to be made in order to tackle this issue if the goal of equal opportunity for women wishes to be

First, women in the professional world face harsh criticisms that are both portrayed in the media and rooted in Biblical interpretations. A Commercial by Pantene points out the issue of labelling. A man is labelled “boss,” while a woman is labelled “bossy”; a man staying late at work is “dedicated,” while a woman staying late at work is “selfish” (Social Voice

A study on the implicit and explicit occupational gender types, Sex Roles, “Occupational gender stereotypes are activated when men and women are considered to be more suited for certain occupations based on stereotyped characteristics and temperaments” (White and White 2006). Matheus represented the following examples, “a stereotypically feminine job would be associated with attributes such as nurturing, caring, and being sensitive to the needs of others and a stereotypically masculine job would be associated with attributes such as decisiveness, coldness and toughness” (Matheus 2010). Nowadays, women are usually seen in the workforce as secretaries and nurses. Meanwhile, most doctors and construction laborers are men. In addition, Anker points out that “Occupational segregation by gender is prevalent in most if not all countries” (Anker 1998). “Women and men work in different fields and within fields at different levels” (Anker 1998). Diekman and Wilde explained that “men’s concentration in leadership and other high power roles led to the assumption that men have “agentic characteristics” such self-assertion and dominance and women’s concentration in subordinate and caretaking roles lead to the assumption that they have “communal characteristics” such as being kind and supportive (Diekman and Wilde 2005).

The concept of gender denotes the distinction between culturally driven and created roles of masculinity and femininity. These specific and normalized attitudes and behaviors transcend and effect how differently men and women live their lives. Based on society’s continual re-enforcement of such gender stereotypes, we see an on-going dilemma of gender inequality. Though some may argue that men experience gender inequality, this seems to exist on a much more invasive level for women. As of recently, the awareness of gender inequality in the workplace has increased. With the fight for equal pay and equal respect, society is already making strides towards the equality of women. With that being said, one aspect of gender inequality that seems