Unit 11: Womens Rights in the Workplace

Public vs Private Sphere

• The public sphere encompasses work, business, politics, and culture,

• the private sphere refers to home, domestic life, and childcare - a division that emerged in the nineteenth century

Gender Ideologies

• Gender ideologies persist despite changing workplace realities. Many North Americans still believe in traditional gender roles even when their lives don't reflect them, and these outdated ideologies continue to impact both men and women at work and home

Gendered Division of Labour

• described as universal, with virtually every society allocating tasks by gender

Male Breadwinner/Female Housewife Model

• The male breadwinner/female housewife model has evolved significantly. While once dominant, this model is now largely obsolete as dual-earner couples become the norm

• However, when wives earn more than husbands, couples often engage in "deviance neutralization" to preserve the idea of male breadwinning

Deviance Neutralization

• a theory that explains how ppl justify their deviant behaviour to reduce guilt and maintain a sense of self-image

Sex Segregation (vertical and horizontal)

• Sex segregation is a more subtle form of gender discrimination in the workplace that occurs

  • when women are segregated from men either in different jobs altogether (vertical segregation)

  • or when they are segregated from men within the same industry (horizontal segregation).

The Precarious Employment

• Precarious employment includes temporary, part-time, and multiple job arrangements, disproportionately affecting women

Glass ceiling and sticky floor

• The workplace reflects persistent gender ideologies through various barriers and phenomena. Women face both a "glass ceiling" preventing upward mobility and a "sticky floor" keeping them in low-wage positions

Glass Cellar

• refers to men being stuck in the most hazardous and dangerous occupations

• In Canada, men are 30 times more likely to die on the job than women, particularly in dangerous industries like mining, logging, and fishing

Tokenism

• occurs when minorities face simultaneous hypervisibility as group representatives yet invisibility as individuals

Glass Escalator

• describes men's preferential treatment in female-dominated professions

Quid pro quo and hostile environment harassment

• Quid pro quo - when a trade of sexual contact is offered for a reward OR an avoidance of punishment.

• Hostile environment - This means a person feels unsafe or threatened in their workplace.

  • causes women to get increased stress, reduce productivity, make them absent from work, lose or quit their jobs

In what ways is the workplace a masculine area or a place where men must create themselves?

• working enables men to confirm their manhood as breadwinners and family providers

How has the increasing entry of women in the workplace cause problems for both men and women?

• Traditional gender ideologies push women toward lower-paying sectors while creating obstacles when they attempt to enter higher-paying fields

• Men, meanwhile, report feeling bewildered by workplace policy changes, expressing anxiety about potential harassment claims and feeling like they're "walking on eggshells"

Key reasons for sex segregation in the workplace

• Differential socialization leads women and men to seek different types of jobs, though this alone cannot fully explain the phenomenon

• Gender discrimination plays a significant role, as employers often use stereotypes about women's aptitudes and interests to exclude them from certain positions

• Women face additional barriers like the "glass ceiling" and "sticky floor" that prevent upward mobility

WHo is most often working in precarious types of work and why?h

• Women are mainly in precarious employment

  • 40% of women compared to 29% of men

  • They are there due to gendered assumptions like women work for pin money

  • these jobs offer flexibility for family responsibilities

• Racialized individuals, immigrants and young men

What are the 3 main causes of the wage gape?

1. Sex segregation in the workplace

   • the pay gap between sexes

2. Discrimination in hiring and promotion

   • WOMEN DONT NORMALLY GET PROMOTED

3. The systematic devaluation of “women’s work”

   • jobs pay less b/c women work there or it’s feminine

What mechanisms prevent women from reaching top-level management positions and leaving the lowest wage positions?

• The glass ceiling. - men are more likely to get promoted even if they have the same qualifications

• “Old boys Club” - male managers hire/promote those similar to themselves

• Traditional gender stereotypes influence promotion decisions

Main harms of ‘Tokenism’ for women or other individuals of oppressed groups?

• Tokens are hypervisible as reps for their groups but invisible as individuals

• work super hard to get achievement but their mere presence is scrutinized

• takes a huge mental toll by causing stress, poor self image

• Tokens are dicouraged from hiring those like themselves causing them to be isolated