GEND011: WK9, L1

INDUSTRIALIZATION

Before industrialization:

• Both men's and women's labor took place in the home
• Agricultural work
• Craftsmanship and trade work

• Family was both an economic and a social unit
• Labor oriented toward the family’s use, not the open market

INDUSTRIALIZATION

During industrialization:

• The meaning of "work" changed
• Men's work moved to the public sphere
• Factory ownership
• Manufacturing
• Politics
• Women's work remains in the private sprhere
• Domestic labor became invisible
• Women became dependent on men

This is known as the gendered division of labor

NATURALIZATION OF SEPARATE SPHERES

The "Cult of True Womanhood" grew out of the gendered division of labor

A prevailing value system in the 19th and 20th centuries emphasizing women's domestic roles

Based on four characteristics: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness

Limited women's roles to rearing children, running the household, and spending family money to enhance social status

CAPITALISM

relies on women's unpaid labor

Women provide free labor for the home and family while the men are primary "breadwinners"

Women reproduce the workforce

Invisible Labor

Kin-keeping:

Involves relationship building and maintaining solidarity in the family unit

• Planning birthday parties, writing thank-you notes, organizing holidays, etc

Care work:

Involves caring for sick or elderly family members

• Hospital visits, giving medicine, doctor's appointments, etc.

Child rearing:

Involves raising and taking care of children

• Feeding, bathing, dressing, playing, etc.

Housekeeping:

Involves maintaining the cleanliness of the home

The Gendered Politics of Housework

Men are less expected to do housework, and when they do housework they are seen as "helping"

https://familyshare.com/20909/5-reasons-you-should-be-helping-your-wife-clean-house

Writing Assignment:

Who does the invisible labor in your home (or in your home growing up)?

What messages did you learn about who was supposed to do which chores?

"The Second Shift"

Arlie Hochschild, 1989

Wage-earning women work 2 shifts

• Working mothers typically work about 80 hours a week

• Even when women earn over half of the family income, men contribute no more than 30% of the household labor

"The Time Bind"

Arlie Hochschild, 1997

Work and family priorities have changed places

• Women are reluctant to spend more time at home because home has become more stressful than work

In and Out of the Workforce

Certain groups of women always had a presence in the workforce, though women didn't really enter the workforce in large numbers until the mid-20th century

World War II

Women were sent to work to replace men who had gone to war

Between 1940 & 1945, women's presence in the workforce increased from 27% to 37%

By 1945 one out of every four married women worked outside the home.

1950s Backlash

Post-war emphasis on domesticity and the nuclear family

Women encouraged to marry, have children, and take care of the home

Very much tied to masculinity and nationalism after the war

Resulted in the "Baby Boom"

The Second Wave's Influence on Work

The Equal Pay Act (1963)

Meant to abolish the wage disparity based on sex

No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex [...] [2]

The Second Wave's Influence on Work

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964)

Prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin

• Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• the federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination

• Intended to combat sexual harassment in the workplace
• can include harassment or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature

The Second Wave's Influence on Work

bell hooks: "Rethinking the Nature of Work" (1984)

Critiques the feminist emphasis on work as liberation because:

• It ignored the fact that majority of women did work outside the home for low wages, but still not economically independent

• Working class women often experience work as dehumanizing and exploitative

Barriers to Women's Advancement

The Glass Ceiling:

"invisible" gender-based barriers to promotion or professional advancement for women

Barriers to Women's Advancement

The Glass Escalator:

the rapid advancement of men in professions dominated by women

Barriers to Women's Advancement

The Glass Precipice:

the process in which women are encouraged into leadership positions in failing organizations

THE WAGE GAP

*This gap fluxuates depending on race/ethnicity

Women* continue to earn roughly 84 cents for every dollar men earn

THE WAGE GAP

UNDERLYING REASONS:

Cultural gender roles and expectations

• Women should be “mothers first”
• Expected to leave the workplace to have children

Institutions are set up to favor certain kinds of workers

• Ideal worker in U.S. begins work in early adulthood, works full-time for 40 years with no break

THE WAGE GAP

UNDERLYING REASONS:

• Lack of leave time

• Lack of benefits for part-time employment

• Health insurance, unemployment, retirement reserved for full-time employees

• Lack of affordable child care

THE WAGE GAP

ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE WAGE GAP

• Women choose to have children and leave work or work part-time

• Women choose to work in lower paying occupations

10 HIGHEST PAYING MAJORS

1. Petroleum Engineering: 87% male

2. Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration: 48% male

3. Mathematics and Computer Science: 67% male

4. Aerospace Engineering: 88% male

5. Chemical Engineering: 72% male

6. Electrical Engineering: 89% male

7. Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering: 97% male

8. Mechanical Engineering: 90% male

9. Metallurgical Engineering: 83% male

10. Mining and Mineral Engineering: 90% male

10 LOWEST PAYING MAJORS

1. Counseling Psychology: 74% female

2. Early Childhood Education: 97% female

3. Theology and Religious Vocations: 34% female

4. Human Services and Community Organization: 81% female

5. Social Work: 88% female

6. Drama and Theater Arts: 60% female

7. Studio Arts: 66% female

8. Communication Disorders Sciences and Services: 94% female

9. Visual and Performing Arts: 77% female

10. Health and Medical Preparatory Programs: 55% female