10 - Careers and work

Question 1

Explain how careers are different life paths depending on gender.

Answer 1

• Men
  → More likely to pursue career full-time, uninterrupted
• Women
  → More likely a discontinuous path
  → Interruptions: family obligations, like a sick child or parent, are usually filled by the woman
  → More likely to pursue part-time employment
  → Stay-at-home moms: Homemaking is a legitimate career (“for a woman”) but has no pay, training, advancement, vacations, benefits, retirement savings, or job security

Question 2

True or false: Career aspirations are similar for boys and girls. Elaborate on this.

Answer 2

True: Study of high achieving highschoolers found boys and girls had equally high career aspirations
→ Students in areas with stronger “traditional” gender roles had lower career aspirations for girls (cultural influence)
→ Students – even at preschool level – recognized gendered careers and believe there’s a justification for it based on competence

Question 3

What does it mean to be “time blind”?

Answer 3

When a working parent comes home and resents their spouse and children for demanding time, including women in high prestige, demanding jobs

Question 4

True or false: High school students have different career aspirations across ethnic groups.

Answer 4

False: They have similar aspirations
–> However, older students from ethnic minorities were more likely to consider limitations.

Question 5

Does the wage gap exist? Explain the factors which influence the answer to this question.

Answer 5

• Yes, but it depends on how you measure it
• There are 2 main ways to measure income in order to assess the wage gap
  1) Annual earnings include all employment income including performance-based pay (e.g., commissions and bonuses; received less by women), but doesn’t account for the differences in hours worked per year (women work fewer)
  2) Hourly wages measure does not measure performance-based pay but accounts for differences in hours worked
• When you take everything that you possibly can into account, and look at white men and white women in the same job with the same experience, education, qualifications, hours worked, the gap is still there. Small! But still there, in most industries. It is smaller in public sector jobs than in private sector ones (private sector p.ex: a law firm)

Question 6

What is the wage gap in Ontario when looking at hourly wages vs annual earnings?

Answer 6

• Using average hourly wages, female employees earned $0.87 for every dollar earned by men in 2022. In other words, the gender wage gap in Ontario was 13% (red line)
• Using average annual earnings, female employees earned $0.75 for every dollar earned by men in 2020, or the gender wage gap was 25 (blue line)

Question 7

Across ethnicities (Hispanic, african, white, asian, native hawaiian, amercian indian), which one has the biggest pay gap between men and women in the US and which one has the lower?

Answer 7

• White man and women have the biggest pay gap
  –> White women make 76% of what white men make
• Hispanic men and women have the smallest pay gap
  –> Hispanic women make 92% of what hispanic men make

Question 8

What is one factor which does not come in to effect the pay gap?

Answer 8

Education levels
- In Canada, women from almost all groups are more educated than Canadian-born men; so education differences are not to blame

Question 9

True or false: Greater numbers of ethnic minority women tend to be concentrated in low-level jobs.

Answer 9

True:
→ African Americans: overrepresented in health service jobs
→ Hispanic Americans: overrepresented in manufacturing

Question 10

What is the default “ideal” worker?

Answer 10

→ White able-bodied male
→ Creates barriers for workers who differ from this ideal
→ Comes back to the idea of male / white / straight / able as the “default human” and anything else is not as good, or must be justified.

Question 11

What are some effects (aspects of a person) which are cumulative to gender, thus influencing the pay gap?

Answer 11

1) Ethnic minorities
→ Less common in upper ranks of corporate management
2) Disabled persons
→ Biases result in fewer jobs as well as underemployment
→ Less likely to be hired for jobs where their disability poses no impediment
→ Women with disabilities fare worse than men with similar challenges

Question 12

How is there gender segregation in jobs?

Answer 12

• Women over-represented in undervalued and low-paying jobs, such as childcare and clerical work

Question 12

Generally speaking, why do women earn less?

Answer 12

• Career interruptions, more part-time work: Women have more family care-giving responsibilities, resulting in a loss of seniority, advancement opportunities
• Women less likely to work in unionized environments
• Women underrepresented in leadership positions, and
• Encounter discrimination or unconscious bias in the hiring, promotion and compensation practices of their workplace

Question 13

How do rigid gender roles limit men in their job choices?

Answer 13

→ “But those jobs are for girls, people will think less of me”
→ This is why men need feminism: it’s about making “feminine” things not “Bad” things. So a guy could teach young children if he wanted to, or be a nurse, or a psychology major, and not catch flack for it.

Question 14

How does pay growth differ between genders?

Answer 14

• Women’s pay tends to stagnate much sooner than men’s pay
  –> On average for women, pay stops growing at 39, while men’s stops growing at 48
• This chart shows growth, not total pay. So when you also consider that the starting amounts are higher for men, the effect is compounded

Question 15

What are the differences in socializations when discussing balancing career and family with men vs. women?

Answer 15

• Women pushed toward domesticity
• Men toward career advancement
• Workplaces make it difficult to balance work and family obligations
  → Women who work are accused of neglecting their family, women who prioritize families are poor workers
  → Men are pushed to work as a way of supporting their family. If they take advantage of “family friendly” policies, it’s looked down on since those are “just for women” unofficially.

Question 16

True or false: Gender wage gaps are smaller among men and women who do not live in a couple and do not have any children

Answer 16

True

Question 17

What is speculated to be the primary factor in gender gap in wages?

Answer 17

• Discrimination in hiring
  → Even with similar levels of advancement after hiring, initial differences in salary make it difficult for women’s salaries to catch up. Even in large companies with no gender discrimination in hiring practices, women had lower starting salaries by 11%. (Penner 2008)
  → Also: salary expectations (their own expectations of starting salary, and others’ expectations), negotiation strategies, discrimination

Question 18

How do expectations vary in hiring?

Answer 18

→ Women initially expect lower salaries to begin and lower peak salaries.
→ Poorer outcomes in negotiations, especially with men

Question 19

A study was conducted to assess the interaction effect in regards to bias in hiring; what did they find?

Answer 19

• Ethnicity – white applicants received higher ratings compared to black and Hispanic candidates with same qualifications.
• Sexual orientation – Straight men got the highest rating, straight women the lowest, and gay / lesbian applicants in the middle
  → Linked to value placed on being ‘masculine’ (the more masculine they are, the closer to the ideal), and the idea that women are less competent but more ‘caring’
• People like things that remind them of themselves – including people on hiring committees

Question 20

What are some solutions to the gender pay gap according to the Globe and Mail article?

Answer 20

• What’s most important is to look at the patterns and behaviours of the organization at hand

Question 21

What are some issues women experience in the workplace according to the Globe and Mail article?

Answer 21

• Informal networks: access to opportunities that might be gender specific which can create advantages or disadvantages for people in meaningful ways
  –> how important things like being invited out to dinner with senior executives is, how important it is to have common interests like sports, maybe playing a hockey or golf game together

Question 22

What was the goal of the Defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull?

Answer 22

• Part of a campaign to add more women to the boards
  → State Street Global Advisors, a nearly $2.5 trillion investor within State Street Corp., said it would vote against boards if a company failed to take steps to increase its number of members who are women
  → State Street wants every company it’s targeting to have at least one female board member and to take steps toward fixing its gender gap

Question 23

Explain the concept of the glass ceiling.

Answer 23

The invisible barrier that prevents women and ethnic minorities from advancing in organizations

Question 24

Explain the concept of the glass cliff.

Answer 24

• “For women and minorities to rise to the top, they had to be “flawless,” overcoming bias — both subtle and not — at almost every moment in their career. As a reward, they get their dream job at just about the worst possible time
• Many reasons possible for this trend:
  → Signals a “dramatic change” by company
  → Women more likely to be seen as being able to humbly rally the troops, apologize for poor performance
  → encourage people to work harder and do better in comparison to men
  → The white candidates might not want the job at that point, sensing they can do better

Question 25

Explain the concept of the glass escalator.

Answer 25

• The advantage that men have in female-dominated careers
  → History of rapid promotion to something more “appropriate” for a man (e.g. case of male children’s librarian promoted to research librarian)

Question 26

Explain the concept of the sticky floor.

Answer 26

• Low-status occupations with little opportunity for advancement
  → Female-dominated occupations (e.g., clerks, secretaries, garment workers, beauticians, household service workers)
  → Male-dominated occupations (e.g. legal careers) women are more likely to idle in the associate position
  → Low level jobs with a sticky floor have more women from ethnic minorities than jobs usually occupied by white women

Question 27

How do childcare concerns play into difficulties for women in the workplace?

Answer 27

• Career choices
  → “Mommy track” (presumption that women will be less dedicated to their careers when they have children) vs “Daddy track” (not a thing, though men have higher evaluations when they have children, but are also more penalized if they take parental leave)
• Career schedules
  → Levels of satisfaction and commitment are the same between men and women in demanding jobs but even in child free women there is the worry that they “might” have kids. Men’s careers advance more rapidly

Question 28

Give an example of how, in male dominated fields, there tends to be subtly or overtly hostile trends towards women.

Answer 28

• Women perceive their workplaces are more hostile in terms of informal social structure (staying late in the office but women typically have to get the kids from school at 5), standards they must meet for advancement, sexist attitudes, and the possibility to solve problems at work.
  → Eg. People in a business setting tend to give high profile ambassador-type assignments to men and lower profile assignments to women (p.ex: administrative type jobs) – not necessarily as a conscious decision, but subtle biases
  → p.ex: little subtleties like a playboy calendar in the work space, etc.

Question 29

Explain how women, minorities and women minorities can be “token”.

Answer 29

• More visible, successes may get more praise, but mistakes are judged more harshly, the dominant group usually subtly tries to edge out the “invader” of their space
  → anything that this token woman does ends up representing all women
  → p.ex: if a boy is bad at math, we say “he’s bad at math”, but if a girl is bad at math, we say “girls are bad at math”
• Do not benefit from the “good ol boys” club mentality, lack mentorship, networking, support structures that others have

Question 30

What is the difference in speech styles of the genders?

Answer 30

• Men: negotiations and power
• Women: connections and commonality

Question 31

How can women’s communication style be a disadvantage in the workplace?

Answer 31

• Has an impact when trying to negotiate salary p.ex
• Women are less likely to be given the benefit of the doubt regarding skills and knowledge from clients, which makes them have to work harder, too
  –> p.ex: email sign-offs as a woman vs as a man

Question 32

What happened in the Ann Hopkins v. Prince Waterhouse trial?

Answer 32

• In 1998 Hopkins’ nomination for partner was put on hold after she was evaluated by several male partners as being too “macho” and in need of a “charm school.”
• One of them advised her to “walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, wear makeup, have her hair styled and wear jewelry.” Instead she quit the firm and filed a lawsuit
• The supreme court ruled that Waterhouse had based its decision in part on unlawful sexual stereotyping

Question 33

What is “Quid pro quo” in the context of sexual harassment?

Answer 33

• Demanding sexual favors as a condition for employment/promotion/retention/ to avoid undesirable placement
  → “If you want that promotion you have to fuck me.” – Branch manager to the teller

Question 34

What is a hostile work environment in the context of sexual harassment?

Answer 34

• The workplace contains unwanted sexual attention or offensive behavior. Includes sexual touching, comments, jokes, displaying sexual material like pornography, rude gestures, personal remarks about sexuality, sexual comments about appearance, discussing a person sexually when they’re there
  → “I’d give her a job, alright.” (doesn’t have to be directly to the person)

Question 35

What is gender harassment in the context of sexual harassment?

Answer 35

• Offensive or hostile behavior directed at individuals because of their gender. “Men are all pigs anyway.” “Chicks belong in the kitchen and the bedroom.”

Question 36

True or false: Men tend to feel more flattered than women when receiving sexual propositions at work.

Answer 36

True:
–Over 60% of men would feel flattered
–Only 17% of women would feel flattered

Question 37

Why are the rates of sexual harassment at work difficult to measure?

Answer 37

• Surveys find that most of the behaviours go unreported, and that what some people call harassment does not meet the legal criteria for it
• Based on personal definitions, between 35% and 50% of women report harassment. For men, it ranges from 9% to 35%

Question 38

Men who harass women tend to view sex and ___ as linked.

Answer 38

Power:
- This makes them more likely to use their power at work to sexually exploit women who are their subordinates, e.g. by kissing without asking for permission or, say, grabbing them by the pussy

Question 39

True or false: Men and women who are more tolerant of sexual harassment have higher opinions of women and harassers of both genders have good impulse control

Answer 39

False: They have lower opinions of women and have poor impulse control

Question 40

What is the pay equity act?

Answer 40

• August 31, 2021, the Canadian Government passed the Pay Equity Act: Employers with 10+ employees must develop and implement pay equity plans designed to ensure equal pay for work of equal value (have three years to implement)
  → Changes in the distribution of men and women across occupations has also been one of the key factors contributing to the reduction of the gender wage gap, as women have increased their representation in higher-earning occupations

Question 41

What are some ways we can eliminate the gender wage gap?

Answer 41

→ Make closing the gender gap a human rights priority
→ Promote access to collective bargaining
→ Enforce and expand pay equity
→ Increase the minimum wage
→ Provide affordable, high-quality, universal child care
→ Increase participation of men in caregiving
→ End violence and harassment of women
→ Continue advancing pay transparency legislation
→ Create welcoming environments for women in the trades, STEM (largest wage gap exists here)
→ Promote women into leadership positions