Gender at Work Gender and Society Week 4

Recap Briefly outlined the development of western feminism Outlined the social construction of gender Considered the role of the media and schools in the construction of gender

Outline Look at the ways in which work in structured by gender Impact of ethnicity on gendered segregation Emotional and sexualised labour

Growth of women’s employment Women’s employment levels have been increasing since the 1950s – % employees were women – % employees were women Feminization of the workplace

Economic changes Not just shift in attitudes Since 1970s major changes in employment base of the UK Moved from manufacturing to service economy Decline ‘masculine’ jobs (heavy industry, mining) Rise in ‘feminine’ jobs (service, leisure)

Occupational Segregation Although increasing numbers of women are working occupational segregation is an issue –Vertical segregation – women at the bottom (glass ceiling) – Horizontal segregation – women/men confined to particular jobs

Vertical segregation Over 50% of women are in routine non- manual jobs Women make up only about 1/3 of managers and senior officials Women are much less likely to be promoted

At the Top? On the FTSE 100 companies, only 11% directors are women Although this an increase, at the current rate of change, it will take 73 years to achieve equality

Horizontal segregation Employees by occupation 2008 From National Statistics online

Horizontal segregation Women are predominately found in the service and retail sectors The five ‘C’s of women’s work Cleaning Catering Caring Cashiering Clerical work

Why do you think gender inequalities at work persist?

Nuclear families The model of the male breadwinner and female carer still persists It was build into the structures through the welfare state –Married women’s paid reduced national insurance –Their right to claim most contribution based benefits such as an old age pension was through their husband’s contributions –Child benefit was paid directly to women.

Part-time working The total number of employees also hides the growth in part-time work Majority of ‘new’ female jobs are part-time –Between 1971 – 1995 –3% more women in full-time work –75% more women in part-time work

‘Pin money’ The assumption that women are supported by men is related to the gender pay gap. –Women work for ‘pocket money’ so don’t need a living wage –Men have ‘breadwinner’ responsibilities so need more money

Domestic work Women’s responsibility for the home means that they are more likely to work part-time Women still have prime responsibility for the household chores and childcare

Double Shift Women do nearly double the hours of housework that men do (3 hours/ 1 hour 40 mins) Men do work longer hours in paid employment Women spend longer looking after children –2/5 men never wash or iron clothes (1/12 women)

Double shift ‘I always do my washing on Sunday and then Monday it’s ironing. Tuesday is my night off and I won’t touch a thing. Thursday I do the bathroom and if it is 3.00am I won’t go to bed until its done. I hoover the bedrooms on Wednesday and the other rooms Friday. Friday I go up to town and pay the bills, do the shopping and get the 4.40 bus home. I get in and make the tea and, while Les sits and has his, I unpack the shopping….’ From Westwood S (1984) All Day Every Day London; Pluto Press

Discuss with your neighbour the interrelationships between gendered occupations, part-time work and domestic responsibilities

Ethnicity So far we have looked at men and women as separate social groups Patterns of paid and unpaid work are also structured by ethnicity Ethnicity and gender interrelate to structure work differently

Occupational segregation Some minority-ethnic communities are concentrated into particular occupations –65% Bangladeshi men and 53% Chinese men were in just 5 occupations in 1991 census For some occupations (eg catering) this means less gender segregation For others (eg nursing) the higher numbers of minority-ethnic women results in higher levels of gender segregation

Ethnicity and Work Why do you think large numbers of minority-ethnic men are employed in the catering industry, a traditional female job?

Emotional Labour Increasingly workers are expected to perform emotional labour Corporate expectation that correct emotions will be displayed –Deep emotion work –Surface emotion work

Sexualised labour In many service industries, women are employed to ‘please’ male customers Expectation that flirting and sexual attractiveness are part of the job requirements

Summary Gender impacts on all areas of work It is also interrelated with ethnicity Service industries increasingly expect emotional labour Some occupations are also sexualized