Gender in Work

Question 1

What is the private/public dichotomy?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are the characteristics of the private sphere?

Answer 2

Feminine. No prestige and power. Invisible work, irrelevant and stereotyped. Women are assigned communal traits -> Caring, sensitivity, communication

Question 3

What are the characteristics of the punlic sphere?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What did the private sphere consist of?

Answer 4

Household duties: cleaning, preparing food, household management and childcare

Question 5

What was the feminine identity in the private sphere?

Answer 5

Good housekeeper, it was internalised as a part of the female identity. Home was a physical and symbolic space for the identification of women

Question 6

What is the idea behind the 2nd shift?

Answer 6

Women often have to do housework once they come home from their job, meaning they essentially are pulling a 2nd shift

Question 7

What is the idea behind hegemonic masculinity?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is compensatory masculinity?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is the idea behind predominantly occupation?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What is the glass escalator?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What are the 2 theories behind how men “survive” female dominated work?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is the glass ceiling?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What is the sticky floor concept?

Answer 13

It describes the low occupational mobility for women, where women are kept from advancing in their careers

Question 14

What is sex segregation?

Answer 14

It refers to the concentration of women and men into different jobs, occupations and firms

Question 15

What is the horizontal occupational sex segregation?

Answer 15

The concentration of men and women in different occupations

Question 16

What is the vertical job level sex segregation?

Answer 16

Specific positions that workers hold within a specific establishment are segregated by gender

Question 17

What is re-segregation?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What is a gender wage gap?

Answer 18

It is usually calculated as the ratio of women’s avarage earnings in an occupation to men’s avarage earning in the same occupation

Question 19

What do we mean by adaptive women?

Answer 19

Often, women want to balance work and family more than men, including the fact that women are more family oriented, traditionally

Question 20

How can socialisation explain sex segregation?

Answer 20

Our experience with gender socialisation lead men and women to prefer different types of jobs

Question 21

How can human capital theory explain sex segregation?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

How is the patriarchy relevant to gender in work?

Answer 22

Capitalism needs cheap labour force of women. Women do enter the public work space, but they are underpriviliged, marginalised and exploited

Question 23

How are women silenced in the workplace?

Answer 23

1. Women are not taken seriously, they are not supported -> Men interrupt women, appropriate women’s ideas, talk more than women
2. Silencing is learned at school/university -> boys talk more. Women communicate in a more egalitarian way, boys often more competitive way

Question 24

When did the division of labour truly take hold of the society?

Answer 24

With the industralisation -> Centralisation of work and paid work

Question 25

How can workplaces be more family-friendly?

Answer 25

Flexible working hours, possiblity to leave children at the workplace, maternity/paternity leave

Question 26

How can you ensure a work/life balance?

Answer 26

work from home, office work, additional days off, an additional day off per week