Gender in Work Flashcards
What is the private/public dichotomy?
It is a capitalist invention of labour divison. Following the industrial revolution the private was usually the sphere for women, while the public was for men
What are the characteristics of the private sphere?
Feminine. No prestige and power. Invisible work, irrelevant and stereotyped. Women are assigned communal traits -> Caring, sensitivity, communication
What are the characteristics of the punlic sphere?
Masculine. Prestige, power and reward. Patriarchy -> It is men that control the public sphere and women’s work. Men are assigned agentic traits -> Decision-making, activity, independence
What did the private sphere consist of?
Household duties: cleaning, preparing food, household management and childcare
What was the feminine identity in the private sphere?
Good housekeeper, it was internalised as a part of the female identity. Home was a physical and symbolic space for the identification of women
What is the idea behind the 2nd shift?
Women often have to do housework once they come home from their job, meaning they essentially are pulling a 2nd shift
What is the idea behind hegemonic masculinity?
Success is a part of it. You have to be successful professionally as a man to meet the standard. If not, it needs to be compensated for
What is compensatory masculinity?
It explains the characteristics for many lower-class men. It is an exaggerated form of masculinity which involves drugs, alcohol and sexual carousing. It is used to demostrate defiance and independence from the control of their wives and the establishment. It is an adaption to the clash between expectations and the resources one have
What is the idea behind predominantly occupation?
It demonstrates the ways in which the status of any particular job or career is determined from what kind of people generally do the job. Women dominated jobs are seen as lower status, especially for men in those occupations
What is the glass escalator?
It describes the experiences men have when they enter occupations that are predominantly held by women. Men have to work hard to stay in place of their occupation, to not advance in their career
What are the 2 theories behind how men “survive” female dominated work?
Invasion: men take positions which require more technical skills
Infiltration: Men does not want to push out women, enter female dominated field only because they protest against hegemonic masculinity
What is the glass ceiling?
Refers to the fact that women are far less likely to have jobs that involve exercising authority over people and resources. It is an invisible and unbreakable ceiling
What is the sticky floor concept?
It describes the low occupational mobility for women, where women are kept from advancing in their careers
What is sex segregation?
It refers to the concentration of women and men into different jobs, occupations and firms
What is the horizontal occupational sex segregation?
The concentration of men and women in different occupations
What is the vertical job level sex segregation?
Specific positions that workers hold within a specific establishment are segregated by gender
What is re-segregation?
It happens in the work place when an entire occupation transitions from one gender to another, usually from a predominantly male to a predominantly female occupation
What is a gender wage gap?
It is usually calculated as the ratio of women’s avarage earnings in an occupation to men’s avarage earning in the same occupation
What do we mean by adaptive women?
Often, women want to balance work and family more than men, including the fact that women are more family oriented, traditionally
How can socialisation explain sex segregation?
Our experience with gender socialisation lead men and women to prefer different types of jobs
How can human capital theory explain sex segregation?
The theory puts an emphasis on an individual’s choice on occupation as resulting from their attempt to maximize the benefits and reduce the costs involved in any particular job. Decision is therefore based on calculation
How is the patriarchy relevant to gender in work?
Capitalism needs cheap labour force of women. Women do enter the public work space, but they are underpriviliged, marginalised and exploited
How are women silenced in the workplace?
- Women are not taken seriously, they are not supported -> Men interrupt women, appropriate women’s ideas, talk more than women
- Silencing is learned at school/university -> boys talk more. Women communicate in a more egalitarian way, boys often more competitive way
When did the division of labour truly take hold of the society?
With the industralisation -> Centralisation of work and paid work
How can workplaces be more family-friendly?
Flexible working hours, possiblity to leave children at the workplace, maternity/paternity leave
How can you ensure a work/life balance?
work from home, office work, additional days off, an additional day off per week
