Women and Work

1
Women and Work

• Outline and assess the view that womens role in
  the economy has changed since 1945.

2
Changes to the economy

• There was labour shortage after 1945 but there
  was increasing unemployment after the 1970s.
• Heavy industry (coal mining, iron and steel) has
  declined.
• Service sector (call centres, catering) has
  increased.

3
Gender and change

• Male employment opportunity has declined.
• Female employment opportunity has increased.
• There is more part-time low paid work.
• Women are generally employed in such work.

4
Gender segregation

• Men and women do different types of work.
• Women are over-represented in least skilled and
  lowest paid jobs.
• White men appear in the management structures.
  Women tend to be in junior and low paid clerical
  secretarial work.

5
Managers
6
Class and gender

• Middle class women are tending to take on male
  professional occupations, but generally the lower
  paid, lower status work (teaching, public
  services)
• Females are not taking on male occupations in
  working class work. Traditional working class
  work is therefore male.

7
Female work
8
Ethnicity and gender

• Ethnic minority people are focussed in some
  industries Chinese/Bangladeshi people in
  catering for instance, Afro-Caribbeans in the
  health service.
• There are different gender patterns of work among
  some communities with Afro-Caribbean women taking
  on professional work and Bangladeshi women being
  less likely to work.

9
Pay

• The Equal Opportunities Commission monitor pay
  rates over the years.
• Women earn less than men.
• The average pay differential is 20
• Part-time female workers earn 60 of what men
  earn.

10
Self-employment

• Self employment is higher among men than women.
• Womens work tends to support male
  self-employment (secretary, shop assistant).
• Women are more likely to be employed in the black
  economy and as home workers.

11
Gender ideology and work

• Male work is heavy, dangerous, outdoors,
  aggressive, technical and highly valued.
• Female work is boring, repetitive, low status,
  and involves subservience to male authority.
• Female work is based on gender assumptions of
  dexterity, caring and emotional support of
  people.
• Scott (1992) female work is drudgery.

12
Female work as drudgery
13
Gender and work

• Early studies looked at how married women
  combined paid work with domestic chores.
• Government policies saw women as domestic
  labourers who also had jobs domestic roles were
  paramount.
• Working mothers were blamed for delinquency among
  children.

14
Recent studies

• Recent studies look at how women are treated in
  work, how gender divisions remain despite
  equality legislation.
• Males control technology and skills, excluding
  certain people from training and jobs.
• As skilled jobs became mechanised and accessible
  to women, this challenged gender assumptions and
  males felt threatened.

15
Sexuality and work
16
Workplace culture

• Workplace culture is masculine.
• Examples include girly posters, male centred
  conversation, and sexual harassment.
• However, males crossing into female work
  experience similar discrimination.
• Females in work downplay their femininity and
  regulate their bodies in such a way as to render
  themselves sexually ambiguous.

17
Leisure industry work

• Adkins studied hotel and pub work.
• Men are usually expected to marry, their wives
  are not employed however.
• Women in this work must be attractive and
  sexualised, although men are not.
• Defining women by their sexuality lowers their
  status because they are servicing male needs.

18
Summary

• Women are in the workforce in greater numbers.
• They tend to be low paid and low status.
• Men still command the work situation in ways that
  suit their needs.
• This is less obvious in middle class work, but
  does occur.

19
The End

• If you have ideas for improvement, see Mrs
  Griffiths