WONDER WOMENWorking Mothers…a Growing

Force

Gender Ideology

Gender Ideology--Ideas of masculinity and femininity that are held to be true in a society.

This is reflected in the gendered division of labor (tasks divided on the basis of gender, i.e. “men’s work vs. women’s work”)

Cross cultural research finds social factors determine division of labor not biological factors. For instance, women do the majority of the world’s work, including hard labor, but only own 10% of the resources

Integrating Work and Family

The worlds of work and family overlap and interact. Work and

family linkages vary based on the structural characteristics of each. Variance is also created through

class, race, and gender stratification systems

U.S. Maternal Labor Force Participation

Today over seventy-one (71%) of American women with children under the age of 18 work

With children under the age of 6, over sixty-four (64%) percent work

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES FOR MOTHERS WITH CHILDREN UNDER AGE 6, BY RACE, 1975-2005

SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2008, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2008 (WASHINGTON, DC: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE): TABLE 581, P. 380.

2008

Changing Work Patterns of Women

Women's Employment

1940, less than 20% of the female population were in the labor force

In 2006 59% percent of the female population aged 16 and older was

in the workforce

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Changing Work Patterns

Men’s Employment

Men's labor force participation rate has declined from 83 % in

1960 to 75 % in 2006

Henslin, James. 2009. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Allyn and

Bacon.8

Sullivan Allyn & Bacon 2009

FIGURE 3.5 Percentage of Married Women with Spouse Present Who Are Employed, Among All Such Women and Among Women With Children UnderSix Years of Age, 1940-2005

MEDIAN INCOME OF FAMILIES, BY TYPE OF FAMILY, 2005SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2006, STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES, 2006 (WASHINGTON, DC: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE): TABLE 682, P. 465.

Mothers Must Work

Because of changing economic and social conditions, a single income is no longer sufficient for most families increasingly wives are sharing this role—they

are called Dual Earner Marriages growing numbers of families are headed by a

single parent who must fulfill both the breadwinner and homemaker roles

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010

Gendered division of labor: Women on average have lower salaries, status,

and opportunities compared to working men.

Labor Market Segmentation – Men and women often work in different types of jobs with distinct working conditions and pay

High concentration of women pink collar occupations: low-paying, non manual, semiskilled positions (clerical work, child care).

Also concentrated in contingent work: Part time, temporary, subcontractedGood for employers but not great for employees

PERCENTAGE OF WORK FORCE IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS, BY SEX, RACE, AND ETHNICITY, 2004

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.

WORK AND FAMILY STRUCTURES

Wage gap: disparity in earnings between men and women.Women make 81¢ for every $1.00 men make.

(full time)Wage gap increases by age.

Today, one out of three wives earns more than her husband.

WOMEN IN THE FORTUNE 500 SOURCE: CATALYST, 2008, “THE CATALYST PYRAMID: U.S. WOMEN IN BUSINESS.” (APRIL),

WWW.CATALYST.ORG/PUBLICATION/132/US-WOMEN-IN-BUSINESS (2008, JULY 5). FOUNDED IN 1962, CATALYST IS THE LEADING NONPROFIT MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION WORKING GLOBALLY WITH BUSINESSES AND THE PROFESSIONS TO BUILD INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES AND EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND BUSINESS. © CATALYST, OCTOBER EDUCATION2008. REPRINTED

WITH PERMISSION.

Henslin, James. 2009. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach Allyn &

Bacon 17

Gender and Education

In the U.S. women are now earning degrees in greater numbers than men, however, there is still a stratification by income and degree

Heslin, James. 2009. Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approcach. Allyn

and Bacon.19

Family Factors that Impact Work

Dual-Worker Families Vs. Single Parent Families

Work Effects on Family

Work has spillover effects on family life Positive spillover is the carryover of

satisfaction and stimulation at work to a sense of satisfaction at home.

Negative spillover involves bringing home the problems and stresses experienced at work, making adequate participation in family life difficult (Voydanoff, 1987; Schulz et al., 2004).

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Work Factors that Impact the Family

Type of Work

White Collar and Professional--more autonomy, greater prestige,

Blue Collar--more closely supervised, greater physical requirements

Professional Satisfaction from Work

CHILD-CARE ARRANGEMENTS OF PRESCHOOLERS WITH EMPLOYED MOTHERS, 2002SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, 2008, “WHO’S MINDING THE KIDS? CHILD CARE ARRANGEMENTS: SPRING, 2005,” CURRENT

POPULATION REPORTS (FEBRUARY), WWW.CENSUS.GOV/POPULATION/WWW.SOCDEMO/CHILD/HISTORICALTABLE.XLS (2008, JULY 3).

Eitzen, Baca Zinn & Smith Allyn and Bacon 2009

Work and Family Roles

The “work-family role system” reinforces traditional division of labor in both work and family.

The demands of the family intrude more on women’s work roles than men’s.

Employed wives generally have two jobs--work and family--while employed husbands have only one.

Invisible and Unpaid Family Work

The labor of women in the home has been excluded from traditional definitions of work

Economic Value of Housework According to sociologists Randy Hodson and

Teresa Sullivan (1995), what is traditionally known as “housework” is only one aspect of home production If these nonpaid home production “workers”

were compensated for their labor, their compensation would amount to billions of dollars per year

Double Shift (1)

Studies find that women do much more housework than men, even if both work full-time

Hochschild (1989) calls it “second shift”Women doing majority of housework while also

working for a wage outside of home.

According to researchers South and Spitze, men perform only 18 hours of housework per week, whereas women put in over 32 hours per week

The Second Shift (2)

Wives who put in a 8-hour day of working for wages average 11 hours more childcare and housework each week than their husbands. (Bianchi and Spain, 1996 cited in Henslin, 2004)

Wives are 8 times more likely than husbands to feel the division of labor is unfair. (Sanchez, 1994 cited in Henslin, 2004)

Husbands Strategies of Resistance

Hochschild interviewed 50 families and did participant research with 12 and found that the majority of husbands used the following strategies of resistance to housework:

Waiting it out: Don’t volunteer for housework. When wife asks, show irritation or become glum. This discourages wife from asking again.

Playing Dumb: When doing housework, become incompetent.

Needs Reduction: Ex. Wrinkled clothes, cereal, ok.

Substitute Offerings: Express appreciation to the wife for being so organized—subtle encouragement for her to keep working the second shift.

Housework

The closer a husband’s and wife’s earnings, the more likely they are to share housework.

-- Although husbands in such marriages don’t share housework equally, they share more than other husbands. (Henslin, 2004)

Unemployed husbands do the least housework.

Social Policy

Changes in Child-Rearing Practices Increase the role of fathers in child-

rearing Family and parental leave act Affordable child care Changes in the Educational System Teacher training of gender issues in

education Greater access and equality for women in

education