Lecture 9: Gender, Work and Division of Labor

1. SC2220: Gender StudiesLecture 9: Gender, Work and Division of Labor Eric C. Thompson Semester 2, 2010/2011

2. Where We Have Been… History of Gender Studies Sex/Gender Distinction Becoming Male or Female Gender socialization; paths to learning gender. Gender Systems Masculinity/Femininity Gender as systems of beliefs and behaviors

3. Where We Are Going… Gender in Popular Culture Gender in Advertising Popular Culture Gender in Social Relations Gender and Power Gender and Work Gender, Here and Now Gender in Singapore YOU ARE HERE

4. Recall from Last Week… Explaining Patriarchy (Gender and Power) Baby Burden and Sexual Exchange Political Economy Culture, Ideology, Beliefs Political Economy in explaining Patriarchy: How is value produced, who controls that value, who is dependent on whom? Today’s Lecture focuses on the contemporary political economy of work and jobs.

5. Today’s Lecture… Division of Labor and Gender at Work The Double Shift Women working a “double shift” Domestic marginalization of Men The Gender Gap in Wages Choice Theory (women choose to ‘opt out’) Gendered Organization Theory Overt Discrimination

6. Video: The Double Shift Even within occupations, it seems that specialties are gendered (e.g., education, law, medicine). Why so? What is the “juggling act” referred to? Do men juggle? How much is the second shift worth, monetarily? Should homemakers be compensated for their years of work in the case of a divorce? Is it “fair” for the state to make women give up their jobs to men during times of national economic crisis? Is it a sound decision, economically? Is the state obligated to help working mothers? If society became more egalitarian, would we fully accept men as stay-at-home dads and homemakers?

7. The “Second Shift” for Women From work of sociologist Arlie Hochschild, “The Second Shift” (1989) Women work a “second shift” housekeeping and child care, after the first shift of paid work outside the home; Men don’t. There is a lot of talk or hope of this changing; research shows very little evidence of change.

9. Women “protect” the home as their sphere of dominance.

10. Men are not trained to do domestic work and assumed to be incompetent.

12. The Gender Gap in Wages Universal (global) and persistent Everywhere, men earn more than women. Relative differences Biggest Gap: UAE, Peru, Belize – Women earn 30% of men’s wages. Smallest Gap: Iceland – Women earn 94% of men’s wages. Singapore: Women earn ~65% of men’s wages (common for industrialized countries)

13. Explaining the Wage Gap Different Choices made by Men and Women Men choose higher paid, more demanding jobs Women choose lower paid, more flexible jobs that allow them to spend time with family See: Kingsley Browne “Biology at Work” As Result of “Gendered” Organization Corporations and other Institutions are structured in ways that discriminate (unintentionally) See: Joan Acker “Hierarchy, Jobs, Bodies” As a Result of Overt Discrimination

14. Browne vs. Acker* Kingsley Browne: Women earn less because of the choices they make. Women “opt out” of high paying, but stressful and time-consuming jobs. Joan Acker: Women earn less because of the systemic, structural biases of institutions (companies, schools, etc.). These are not mutually exclusive; both are true. They overdetermine the gender gap in wages. *Required readings for this week.

15. Complexity of the Wage Gap Browne demonstrates: The most significant gap is between women who have children and all others. The gap between Single Childless Women and All Men is much less substantial. Married Men earn more than Unmarried Men. Singapore 2008 report claimed only 2% gender wage gap among new graduates… BUT, these are almost certainly Single Childless Women! (A very biased sample for claiming that there is little or no “gender gap in wages”!)

16. Gender & Opportunity Structures Individual-level effects of availability factors: Women select jobs in which… They believe they can get hired They think they will be welcome They believe they can succeed This limits many “non-traditional” and sex-segregated occupations that may pay more, have higher status At the same time, women have the structural option of finding a partner who will provide surplus resources to them (sexual exchange theory) to a far greater degree than men.

17. Are Women today more independent than in the past? Sexual-exchange theory and political-economic theory (Huber) predict that patriarchy is correlated with dependence. The more dependent women are on men, the more vulnerable and disempowered they are. Women over the last fifty years have become less dependent on men on providers; but more directly dependent on employers and states. Unlike husbands and families, employers and states do not want children (they want workers and citizens). Hmmm… and we wonder why birthrates are falling?

18. Acker: Gendered Organizations Organizational practices and organizational processes create gender segregation. They also invent and reproduce gender norms. Acker is arguing that gender pervades institutional and organizational structures (Browne considers organizations to be basically ‘gender neutral’).

19. Gendered Institutions “Gendered institutions” (e.g. corporations, schools, etc.) “Gendered” Institutions are not (only) the result of gender difference; Institutions produce gender difference. Gender difference in one institution is affected by gender in other institutions in a society. For example, gender differences in a corporate office will be affected by the production of gender in family life; and the gender in family life will be affected by the production of gender in corporate offices. No institution is “gender neutral” (even if it formally declares itself to be). Gender is a pervasive social and cultural system. Its effects can be reduced (or amplified) but no society is “free from gender.”

20. Is NUS a Gendered Institution? Men on the NUS Board of Trustees: Mr WONG NgitLiong Mr Hans-Dieter Bott Mr. Lucas Chow Mr Edward D'SILVA Mr. Goh Yew Lin Mr. Han Book Kwang Mr. Hiew Yoon Khong MrHsieh Fu Hua Prof Dr Olaf Kubler Mr. Michael Lien Prof Edison Liu Mr Paul Ma Mr Chandra Mohan K NAIR LG NG Yat Chung Professor TAN Chorh Chuan Professor SAW Swee Hock Mr. Phillip Tan Mr. Sunny Verghese Mr. Lucien Wong Women on the NUS Board of Trustees: Mdm Kay Kuok OonKwong Ms Olivia LUM MdmHalimahbteYacob Ms Yeoh Chee Yan “Gendered Institutions” do not always have formal rules based on gender. They produce “gendered” outcomes based on multiple factors both internal and external to the institution, such as…. Social attitudes, preferences, opportunities, etc.

22. Is it fair to expect this equally of men and women?

25. Research results:

26. When given mock job applications for gender neutral and traditional male jobs, more applicants with male names or male characteristics were offered the jobs, even when the applications (resumes) were identical in content.

28. Next Week… Guest Lecture Liu Dongxiao “Globalization and Women’s Organizations”