Gendered Logics And The Representation Of The Workplace

Throughout history, women have been regarded as of lesser value than men particularly in the public sphere. This is the result of gender stratification. Gender stratification refers to the issue of sexism, “or the belief that one sex is superior to the other” (Carl et al., 2012, p. 78). The theory that men are superior to women is essential to sexism. Sexism has always had negative consequences for women. It has caused some women to avoid pursuing successful careers typically described as “masculine”—perhaps to avoid the social impression that they are less desirable as spouses or mothers, or even less “feminine.”

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and being squeezed out of organisations due to preconceptions about their dedication to a long term role, based on outdated gender stereotypes.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).

Discriminating women because of their gender is common in the workforce and unfortunately, has become a norm. Discrimination begins from childhood and that is why it has become accepted in America’s society. Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook and author of “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” writes that “the gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophecies (653).” I can relate to Sandberg’s point because when I was a child, I use to think that girls could not be police officers or fire fighters because it was not seen as an appropriate choice for a girl. I acknowledge Sandberg’s point because gender stereotypes are reinforced in television, the workforce, and at home during indoor or outdoor chores. hooks, activist and author of “Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In” would support this point; however, she would argue that patriarchy is the core issue, not stereotypes. In other words, hook believes that “we must understand that challenging and dismantling patriarchy is at the core of contemporary feminist struggle- this is essential and necessary if women and men are to be truly liberated from outmoded sexist thinking and actions (662).” If patriarchy is the focus then America can establish why women are treated unequally from the men. Stereotypes are important, but hooks’ think that Sandberg “Is simply taking old ideas and giving them a new twist (664).” I agree with hook because Sandberg mentions how women face stereotypical issues, however does not explain that patriarchy is the real reason women have difficulties in the workforce. Before jumping into conclusions Slaughter must focus on how patriarchy can improve.

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 modern america sexism is slowly diteriating, but it has not complitly disappeared. Women have worked hard to become astronaut, Ceos, presidentsdoctors and more, but even with these accomplishments women are still discriminated against. Women face a variety of stereotypes in the work place that prevent them from progress, some company's really think that women don't need equal pay because they are not the head of the house hold and their husbands paycheck should do the job. Other business corporations believe that women can not committed to a job because they are the primary caregiver of their children which causes companies to lose money every time there is an emergency. "The paradox is that the world of rigid and hierarchical sex roles

Continuing on with the discussion on working-class occupation and masculinity, Paul Willis (1977) conducted research and wrote an article on why working-class kids get working-class jobs. The 12 working-class 'lads ' that Willis (1977) interviewed were all from a town in England, that was largely industrial, called Hammertown. Willis (1977) witnessed a distinct counter-culture towards the school and what Willis calls 'learning labour '. The argument that is put forward in the article is that the 'lads ' rejected the 'learning labour ' not because they had bad experiences in school, but instead because it was seen as feminine (Willis, P., 1977). Thus 'lads ' demonstrated stereotypical views of working-class males masculinity. They believed that manual labour and working physically hard is an expression of male masculinity (ibid). The article does also share an idea that the lads conform to the ideas that are shared by the leader or others members of the group (ibid). This conforming to social groups does give us a valuable insight to the possible reason why working-class males get working-class masculine jobs. Linking in with Joan Acker 's (2006) work on inequality regimes, Willis (1977) does make reference to companies praying on lads, similar to the ones he interviewed, who are from working-class backgrounds and share the lads masculine ideas, to work in their low-skilled factories. However, the 'lads ' did not see this as them being exploited by the organisations,

Christine Williams broadens themes developed in ‘Gender Differences At Work: Women and Men in Non-Traditional Occupations’ (Berkeley: University of California, 1989), a comparison between the effects on male nurses and female marines of working in ‘gendered occupations’, to be traditionally allied by reason of similarities in their historical development and in their gender composition . Her interviews provide fascinating evidence of how both men and women are subtly socialized into professional gender ideology. Gender roles are based on society's values and beliefs about interactions between individuals. The appropriate behavior is then expected from the specific gender. The reason behind this is, our knowledge system, in which we grew up

Men had difficulties accepting and adjusting to changes in women’s roles. They had to adjust to having women around them at their job sites and some felt that women were filling positions that an unemployed man should have been given. Men also felt that the traditional male role as provider was being threatened, so some men did not allow their wives to enter the labor force. Most men, however, have gradually accepted women in the career world. Today, men are even taking on roles that were once deemed ‘female’ like nursing, homemaking and teaching.

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

As this essay has focused on male privilege and its’ individual effect on women and men themselves separately, a notably alarming matter of male privilege is the fact that it is normalized in society which has become damaging to how our society and social structures work. In the article The Context of Workplace Sex Discrimination, Stainback and other contributing authors state that: “Organizations, and workplaces in particular, are fundamental to the allocation of societal rewards and stratification among social groups” (Stainback 1165). Thus, the ways in which these social structures work show how society really functions and which groups of society are privileged in opportunities and achievements than others. When you take a look at many

The generation now has made it easier to equalize men and women but there is still a substantial amount of places where gender inequality is still happening in the workplace and where females still face discrimination. Women are often discriminated in the workplace and are usually not promoted as quickly as men are and they also receive less pay. History shows that women have not always been defined as property and thought of as second class citizens. But in the 21st century many have seen a drastic change in the so called “traditional” family ways where women are suppose to stay home and take care of the household chores, food, and children and men are suppose to work to support their family and provide financial stability. Many assume that in the workplace women are more vulnerable and less competent than men because women 's instincts are to put their family before work or anything else. Whereas men are the ones who will usually stay the late hours to work. People on both sides of the political spectrum and everywhere in between seem to be fearful of what is to come and more fearful of others than they are often willing to admit.

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