Midterm Flashcards
Which forces have shaped the contemporary experiences of women workers?
Social, political, and economic forces
The diversity of women’s work experiences include…
- managerial, low-wage labor, professional, and service
- paid and unpaid work, “second shift”
- production and consumption, globalization and migration
What are the issues affecting women in the workforce?
Equal pay, childcare, glass ceiling, “old boys” network, and sexual harassment
What is the second shift?
According to Arlie Hochschild, the second shift is defined as “social science research indicates that to combine work and family life during the course of just one year, women must work the equivalent of an extra month of twenty-four work days compared to men.”
The extra duty amounts to about 15 hours of more work for women each week than men.
What is the traditional “Leave it to Beaver” family? Is it still the norm?
A male breadwinner, a housewife, and one or more children. It is no longer the norm and only represents less than 10% of all families.
True or false: Labor-force participation of women has experienced dramatic growth since the 1960s.
True.
Women’s rate of participation grew from __% (1890) to just over __% (2000).
18%; 60%
By 2000, what was the percentage of all women with small children younger than one year who were in the labor force?
58%
According to the book, what is a paradigm?
A paradigm tells us what is there and what is not, what is to be taken seriously and what is not, what are data and what are not.
True or false: Women’s roles were defined in terms of the family (wife and mother), private and invisible (management of household).
True
Which type of roles do men perform?
Task-oriented, public, and visible roles
True or false: Until the 1970s, the study of work studied both men and women at work
False. It only studied men at work
True or false: work done outside the market economy is not measured or recorded (i.e., home-based work)
True. If not recorded or measured, it is invisible and therefore has no economic value.
If home-based work were measured, the work of housewives in America alone would amount to approximately ___ of the U.S. GNP
One-fourth
True or false: women who work display many psychological distress symptoms and feel incompetent and unfulfilled. They state that they would never work even if they didn’t need to.
False. They have fewer psychological distress symptoms than women who don’t work, and are found to be more assertive, more involved in the family’s financial-planning, and receive greater respect from their family
According to the book, what two types of women are there?
Career primary
Career family
According to the “ladies’ choice” theory, the explanation for income inequality and sex segregation is the result of…
Women’s “preferences” for “supportive” nurturing occupations such as nursing and elementary school teaching.
To suggest that women’s inferior economic position results from choices they make is to identify them as…
“Victims by choice”
What is the superwoman?
The woman who can
- Make a full, nourishing breakfast for her wonderful well-dressed children
- Then go to work and chair a meeting of the board of trustees in the morning, and meet with new clients during the course of the afternoon
- After work, she comes home to cook and serve a gourmet dinner for her family
- She is a woman who entertains in her spotless house, and has a warm, nonproblematic relationship with her husband
The superwoman model is in part the creation of the media in the ___ and ___
1980s; 1990s
What is wrong with the idea of “superwoman”?
It implies that only exceptional women can integrate work and family life, and perpetuates the traditional notion that household labor is women’s work.
True or false: Religious and legal institutions convey patriarchal message that women’s role is primarily that of wife and mother
True
True or false: Women’s lives and their work differed drastically depending on their race, class, and marital status.
True
Which type of work did women have to do during the civilization period?
Cooking, cleaning, caring for children, spinning, weaving; making lace, soap, candles, and shoes
While single women remained within the domestic sphere as “assistant homemakers,” married women…
Had the nature of their work depended on the economic status of their husband.
Local poor laws encouraged poor women to work rather than become recipients of relief. Which job types did they have to choose from?
Laundresses, house servants, or cooks
Middle-class white women during the colonization time period had a few more job options than poor women, such as…
Innkeepers, shopkeepers, crafts workers, nurses, printers, teachers, landholders, physicians, and midwives
In the South, how were African Americans exploited during the colonization period?
They were exploited not only as workers but as breeders of slaves, and as sex objects for white men.
Who wrote “Ain’t I a Woman?”
Sojourner Truth
In the North, African Americans worked as…
domestic servants, spinners, weavers, and printers.
True or false: Prior to European colonization, North American women played very important roles in the economic life of their communities.
True. They engaged in agricultural work, gathered plants and herbs, tilled soil, sowed seeds, raised children, and sometimes hunted.
What happened to Native Americans due to colonization?
They were pushed off their lands, depriving them of food and livelihood, culture, and traditions, and forced them onto reservations and coerced them to assimilate.
During the industrialization period, what were the differences between married women and single women?
Married women were expected to stay home while the husband provided for them. Single women were encouraged to work in factories with extreme oppressive conditions, from 5am to 7:30 pm, to prepare them for life as a wife and mother.
By the ___, immigrant women (both single and married) and men replaced women in the mills.
1850’s
True or false: During WWII, an increased number of white women entered new fields of industry, particularly in male-dominated occupations.
False. It was during WWI
In 1933, during the Depression, the National Economy Act…
Only allowed one federal salary per married couple, which forced women out of the workforce due to their husbands almost always earning higher wages
During WWII, the War Manpower Commission…
Instituted a massive advertising campaign to attract women to the munitions factories and war industries
True or false: Women had access to skilled, higher-paying industrial jobs during WWII.
True
What happened at the end of WWII?
Tremendous public pressure on women demanded that they abandon their work roles and return to the domestic sphere so men could take back their old jobs.
Women have participated in the labor movement both as ____ and ____.
Leaders and rank-and-file members
What were the advantages and disadvantages of labor unions?
Disadvantages: many unions prevented women from obtaining union cards, and discriminated against those who did.
Advantages: unionization helped women increase their pay and to diminish the historical gap between men and women. It also gave women a sense of sisterhood
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) organized skilled labor but excluded…
Women, non-whites, and immigrants
What was the purpose of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union? When was it founded?
It was founded in 1900 and brought together women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
In the early 1970’s…
The AFL-CIO approved the Equal Rights Amendment, and the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) held its first conference. It targeted issues such as daycare, affirmative action, and pay inequalities.
True or false: African American women remained the smallest group in domestic service until the 1970s.
False. They were the single largest group in domestic service.
By the ____, African American women were employed in “white collar” jobs: clerical and sales, as well as professional jobs in business, health care, and education.
1980s
Native American women’s participation rate in the labor force in 1970 was __% and rose to __% by the early 1990s. By 2000, the percentage was __%
1970: 35%
1990s: 55%
2000: 56.8%
When did the largest number of Chicanas migrate to the United States? From where did they migrate? Why did they migrate? Where did they settle?
During 1916-1920, they migrated from Mexico due to labor shortages during WWI. They settled in the Southwest and Midwest.
Women of color earned ___ than white women, who earned ___ than white men.
Less; less
True or false: Asian American women have had and continue to exhibit high labor-force participation rates and relatively high economic status compared to women of other racial and ethnic groups.
True
