The sociology of Work
Gender Segregation in the Workplace
Definitions:
Gender/Sex Segregation in the Workplace: the concentration of men and women in different occupations, jobs, and places of work.
Occupation-level segregation: whole occupations are either predominantly male or female.
- Men and women are doing different tasks here.
- E.g., Nurses are mostly women; mechanics are mostly men.
- E.g., Managers are mostly men, and secretaries mostly women.
- Men and women are doing different tasks here.
*Job-level segregation: within the same occupation, there is sex segregation in the specific jobs.
- E.g., Salespeople at Sears - men sell appliances, women sell clothing.
- E.g., Female bank tellers are in suburban branch; mostly male tellers at downtown branch.
Contemporary Patterns: Gender Segregation
Job segregation within integrated occupations: We still have job segregation within occupations
- Physicians: Women tend to go into:
- ob/gyn (76% residents are female, 2015)
- pediatrics (70% residents are female, 2015)
- psychiatry (53% residents female, 2015)
- family medicine (52% residents female, 2015)
- Men dominate:
- neurosurgery, cardiology, oncology (80-90% men)
- general surgery (72% residents are male, 2015)
- Real Estate
- Female real estate agents are concentrated in residential sales,
- Men continued to dominate commercial sales.
- Physicians: Women tend to go into:
What is associated with these different jobs?
Consequences of Gender Segregation:
Separating groups into different places and different roles makes it easier to treat them unequally
Nature of jobs/occupations is tied to income as well as authority and promotion.
Wage gap:
- Sex segregation in jobs is one factor that influences differences in earnings.
Sex differences in promotion and authority: Padavic & Reskin reading:
- Heavily female occupations are often dead-end (no higher position to go to) E.g., Child-care worker
- Women concentrated at low levels or less prestigious roles; with less opportunity for advancement. E.g., Secretary; receptionist
- Women supervise fewer subordinates than men and are less likely to control financial resources. E.g., Women in Human Resources; Men in Finance Departments
- Women's authority is sometimes undermined by co-workers. E.g., "Iron Lady" movie clip
Gender Segregation: Explanations
Employer's Actions - Structural Barriers (Padavic and Reskin: "Segregation," "Social Networks," and "Organizations' Personnel Practices")
Actions of employers most important:
- Often concentrate men and women into different jobs.
- Or they assign different tasks to men and to women, within the same job.
WHY? E.g., HBS Case Study on hiring female MBAs
- Power:
- In-group favoritism:
- Most people within hiring power are men
- They want to maintain men in power positions
- Or simply like to work with similar others. "Old Boys Club
- "Homosocial reproduction":
- To eliminate uncertainty hire someone like you
- Employer believe that similar people are likely to make same decisions they would
- In-group favoritism:
- Cultural beliefs / Social expectations:
- Employers' actions often based on gender stereotypes
- Notions of what is "proper" work or tasks for men and women. E.g., will assign men and women tasks that fit these expectations
- Abilities: believe that men and women have different abilities or characteristics. Thus, they should do different jobs.
- Needs: believe that men and women have different needs. Men need to provide for family.
- Power:
Example: Tolich and Briar, "Just Checking It Out: Exploring the Significance of Informal Gender Divisions Among American Supermarket Employees"
Background:
- Interviews with 65 supermarket employees in Northern California (22 were women).
- Observations of workers in the check stands and in staff canteen
- 55 were "Journeymen Clerks"
- All had same pay and job description - What is the organizational structure?
Results:
- Task Segregation by Gender:
- Were men and women segregated by task?
- How did this occur (formally? informally?)
- Consequences of Task Segregation
- Promotion: How were promotion opportunities affected by gender segregation?
- Quality of working life: How did this segregation affect the work life of both men and women?
- Explanations for Segregation in Grocery Store:
- WHY did the segregation occur?
- Which of the explanations (of employers' actions) mentioned above were operating here?
- Task Segregation by Gender:
Conclusions:
- Woman at one of these stores brought case of sex discrimination through her union.
- 1992, S.F. judge ruled against Lucky Stores:
- Lucky discriminated against women by systematically denying them promotions, training, and desirable work assignments.
Explanations: Worker's own actions / preferences: Men and women often choose work/occupations that fit gender expectations.
Socialization to "gendered" work:
- Certain skills/work associated with each gender
- Men and women are steered toward these gender-appropriate occupations.
- People choose work that they have been socialized to think is appropriate for them
- E.g., Women prefer "feminine" work
- Because of socialization into feminine traits - caring, compassion, relationships
- Women prefer work that centers around these traits
- E.g., nursing, teaching, social work
Cultural Family/Work Options:
- 19-th Century Cultural notion of "Separate Spheres"
- Men in the workforce
- Women at home
- These cultural ideas persist:
- Men expected to provide financially for family
- Women expected to provide emotionally, practically for family.
- However, women's options have expanded:
- Normative for women to go into labor force
- Also normative for women to prioritize family
- This can lead some women to "opt out" of more demanding jobs/occupations
- Men have fewer options:
- Normative to go into labor force
- NOT normative to stay home with family
- More pressure to succeed at work
- 19-th Century Cultural notion of "Separate Spheres"
Example: Workers Own Actions, Christine Williams, "Masculinity in Nursing"
Here we see the exception to "gender-expected" occupations: men in a feminine occupation.
How does this affect the men at work>
- The difficulties here, illustrate reasons that men and women may NOT choose gender-atypical work.
Token Status at Work:
Tokenism: when one category of people (e.g., female) is 15% or less of the work group; compared to 85% or more of the dominant category (e.g., male)
- Male nurses are "tokens" in female world of nursing
- Very small numbers of men in nursing - 5%
- Major reason for low numbers:
- Men do not want to be nurses because of the femininity of the occupation
- Personality tests show that male nurses are no different than other men.
- Many from working class.
- No other options.
Gender interactions at work: Same gender informal work groups:
- Workers create shared values and ideas at work:
- These constitute a workplace culture,
- Often this workplace culture revolves around separate-gender groups.
- Largely because of sex segregation in jobs.
Gender displays: language or rituals that are characteristic of one sex.
- Female work groups: gender displays:
- Focus talk on personal, familial events
- Tendency to celebrate private life at work
- These displays affirm heterosexuality and femininity.
- Male work groups: gender displays:
- Sexual language and conversations about sex
- "Macho: talk and behavior, sports talk
- These gender displays affirm heterosexuality and masculinity.
- Tokenism exaggerates gender interactions at work.
- Workers create shared values and ideas at work:
Male Nurses at Work:
- Reactions to the Male Token
- Gender displays of female nurses?
- What do the female nurses talk about?
- How does this “heighten boundaries” with male nurses?
- Reactions of physicians to male nurses
- How do physicians interact with male nurses?
- Is this positive or negative for male nurses?
- Reactions of patients to male nurses
- How do patients react to male nurses?
- Is this positive or negative for male nurses?
- Gender displays of female nurses?
- Stereotyping: By nurses, physicians, outsiders
- Masculine stereotype
- How are male nurses stereotyped in terms of “masculinity”?
- What are the reactions of male nurses to this?
- What are the consequences of this stereotyping?
- Homosexual stereotype
- Why are male nurses stereotyped in this way?
- What are the consequences of this stereotyping?
- Masculine stereotype
- Responses by Male Tokens
- How do the male nurses respond to reactions from co-workers and patients?
- How do male nurses respond to stereotypes at work?
- Consequences of male tokenism in nursing
- What are the consequences of male tokenism in the world of nursing?
- Positive? Negative?
- Reactions to the Male Token
Summary: Explanations for Sex Segregation in Work
Sex Segregation in occupations and jobs is the result of a combination of factors
Most notably:
- Structural Barriers: Employers’ actions based on:
- Power
- Cultural beliefs
- Workers own preferences/actions
- Gender socialization
- Cultural Work/Family Options
- Structural Barriers: Employers’ actions based on: