Motherhood Sociology

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

This concept illustrates gender inequality because even in a field that is dominated by women, gender perceptions about men’s roles, abilities, and skills, privilege them and ease their advancement within the occupation. (Wingfield, p363-365)

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).

Meaning women have additional problematic issue then man. For example in education women face more obstacles as faculty rather when in manager and directors in corporate America. Even though there been great progress in the workplace, most jobs are segregated by sexes. There is wag gaps, the average women have to work roughly 4 months extra every year to make the same wage as man. For example, when the educational attainment increases the gender pay decreases for women no matter what levels of education than men. In other words, women earn 77cents for every dollar man earn and put in their pocket (Benokraitis, 2010, p.160-161). Discrimination where both woman and man share in the workplace is the glass ceiling and glass escalator. The glass ceiling being, “women efforts to scale organizational and professional hierarchies but cant because they are constrained by invisible barriers to promotion in their careers, caused mainly by sexist attitudes of men in the highest position” Similarly, men that choose to go into position like nurse and librarians encounter the glass escalator mostly vituperative criticism from the public when they are in the most female-identified specialties” “Therefore man are pressured to move out of the most female-identified areas, and up to those regarded as more legitimate and prestigious for men” (Williams, 1992, p.

The family developmental and life cycle theory is the studying of families, which include stages that the family move through based on life experiences, that are usually predictable depending on the stage they are in (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015). There are nine tasks that families must accomplish in order for the family to achieve well-being. In this discussion board post, I will be discussing task two, which is financing childbearing and child rearing.

The Glass Ceiling theory explains how a woman may never make it to the top of their profession when compared to a man who may also want to advance. The term “Glass Ceiling”

The situation and view of women has greatly improved over the years in America. Women now have equal access to education, increased participation in politics and the labor market, access to birth control, resources against domestic violence, and other equal rights. Women now have the freedom to decide on the role and impact they want to have to society, which was decided for them in the past. Women can work to gain financial independence or decide to get married and have income to support her family. Families that are earning two salaries can afford the better education for their children and enjoy a higher standard of living. One drawback of a woman and father both working is how it may affect their children. In some situation when both parents become career driven, they will have less time to take on the parenting role. This could have a negative impact the children if proper child care services is not provided for them. To prevent this many married adults who both have desires to advance in their occupation, the decision to have kids will often be postponed until each parent finds a more stable position in

The "glass ceiling" has held women back from certain positions and opportunities in the workplace. Women are stereotyped as part-time, lower-grade workers with limited opportunities for training and advancement because of this "glass ceiling". How have women managed their careers when confronted by this glass ceiling? It has been difficult; American women have struggled for their role in society since 1848. Women’s roles have changed significantly throughout the past centuries because of their willingness and persistence. Women have contributed to the change pace of their role in the workplace by showing motivation and perseverance.

Gender plays a huge role in workplace 'success' and can be a big challenge especially if the employee is a woman in a male dominated workplace or career. No matter how 'hard-nosed,' 'ruthless,' 'workaholic' a woman may be, or how much personal success she achieves, there will always tend to be some type of obstacle to keep her from getting completely to the top of the corporate ladder. She must also still fight stereotypes that undermines her confidence or limits her potential. Since the early 20th century, women and minorities have sought equal opportunities in education and in the labor force with little success. These obstacles or barriers are all known as the glass ceiling.

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

There has been a great advancement in women’s occupations. Although women have experienced some growth, there is still a gap in gender equality. The gap is prevalent in the United States and abroad. Women can have the same qualifications, competitive attitude, and aggression as men, but still lag behind men in the workplace (Why Can’t a Women Succeed like a Man, 2009). There is more work to be done to break the glass ceiling that blocks women from reaching the top.

The term glass ceiling was coined more than twenty years ago by the Wall Street Journal to describe the barriers that women face at workplace. The word ‘ceiling’ suggest that women are blocked from advancing their career while the term ‘glass’ is used because the ceiling does not always visible. Women might work as hard as men do but they only earn about seventy-five per-cent of the men’s income though they might be of the same seniority, experience as well as education level. The earning differential is due to the traditional responsibility for family and childcare tasks assigned by the society towards women. This is because the society still assumes the high-paying professions as masculine and feminine women could not fit the requirements of holding the position and they better do a more nurturing job. This typical thinking causes men to be numerically dominant in almost all area like in key global and national decision-making position such as international organisations, governments, and as well as the board of CEOs and directors of private enterprises. As an example, rarely are women seen to sit in the parliament seat or hold the superior position in a government party. Take the case of our own Datuk Ng Yen Yen who did not succeed in her bid for the MCA’s vice presidency in October 2008. She challenged the tradition within the male-dominated party but then her failure indicates the hesitance of the

Today's women are being scrutinized for deciding to enter the work force and have children. There seems to be a stigma that you cannot be a career minded woman and have a family. Women find themselves entering the work force before they have children and then choosing to stay after the children are born. Some women find that their families require two incomes or in some cases their income may be the only source. There are also many positive affects on families by working mothers. Sometimes the lack of a mother's presence can impact a child negatively, a mother that does not work may also have a severe negative impact on a family. In a two income household, many mothers are able to make better choices for their families when it comes to nutrition and education. Based on today's society, there are negative and positive impacts on the family of a working mother ( Glezer, 1988).

Many may ask why would poor women put motherhood before marriage as though they think there is clear answer to this complex and multi-sided question. Kathryn Edin and Maria Kelalas’ study revealed in the novel Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage acknowledged reasons for why young, poor mothers decided to get pregnant so early and how a child affected their lives and relationships.