IS THE PROGRESS TO GENDER EQUALITY STALLED? IF SO, WHY? BY LEAH MORTENSON SOC 521

THE ANSWER: YES Trends towards greater equality were seen in the last half of the 20 th century, but in the 1990s that progress largely stalled. Managerial gender integration has slowed (Cohen et al., 2009) and the labor force participation rate for professional women has also stalled Women’s access to top-level managerial positions has been increasingly limited since the 1990s Women make up only 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 18 percent of the 525 members of U.S. Congress (Pedulla & Thebaud, 2015).

WHY IS THIS THE CASE? Cohen et al. (2008) looked at the trends in three indicators of gender inequality to answer this question: 1.Gender Segregation 2.Relative Earnings 3.The Effect of Gender Composition on Earnings Looked at three decades of U.S. Census data to see the progress of women in full-time managerial positions

WHAT THEY FOUND Slowing progress after the 1980s related to occupation segregation and women’s entry into technical and scientific positions, as well as occupations in business services, such as lawyers and judges Despite the fact that women continue to increase their college education rates relative to men, the pace of their income after graduation is still slower.

WORK/FAMILY CONFLICT “Intensive Mother” vs. “Ideal Worker” Women are more likely to drop out of the labor market after having children (Cohen et al., 2009) “Productive Work” vs. “Reproductive Work” Today, women still do the majority of housework and spend almost the same amount of time with children as mothers without jobs did in the past (Cha, 2010) Since women are expected to bear the brunt of childcare and childrearing responsibilities, this causes conflict over how to best divide their time between the roles of worker and caregiver.

THE GLASS CEILING “Glorified Secretary” Hypothesis: Jacobs (1992) said that when women are given managerial positions, they are often in name only and act as symbols of accomplishment rather than actual progress. Legal pressures or fear of lawsuits drive employers to rename women’s positions as managerial without actually granting them the authority to make decisions in line with that title. Female-dominated managerial positions are still lower paid than men’s

EGALITARIAN ESSENTIALISM “Separate but equal” mentality that allows the gender hierarchy to persist and perpetuates gender norms that prevent women from working the same number of hours as men. “Post-feminist” repackaging of old ideas into a new, choice-based ideology Keeps women from pursuing more time-intensive, competitive positions (and the women who do pursue these positions often opt out of having children)

OVERWORK In the 1980s, fewer than 9 percent of workers (13 percent of men, 3 percent of women) worked 50 hours per week or more [while in] 2000, over 14% of workers (19% of men and 7% of women) worked 50 hours per week or more (Wheeden, 2014). Workplace practices promote a 24/7 mentality of commitment to one’s occupation Changes in compensation systems that reward overwork The ideology that one’s commitment to work is reflected in the number of hours one spends on the job This is significant for women who have a hard time fitting into this “ideal worker” role due to care giving obligations

SOCIAL STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS Social structures: “mutually sustaining cultural schemas and sets of resources” (Sewell, 1992). These structures are embedded into society and because individuals are often unaware of their own complicity in maintaining them, they must be addressed at the policy level to enact change (Cha, 2013)

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS (AND THEIR PITFALLS) Flexible work practices (FWP) PRO: Greater flexibility has been shown to lead to higher job satisfaction and productivity which makes it desirable to employers and employees alike CON: This has been understood in the past as a management strategy to get rid of undesirable staff Governmental policies mandating equal pay PRO: A formal policy requiring equal pay would be in place CON: De jure mandates don’t guarantee de facto implementation Greater distribution of care giving responsibilities between men and women PRO: Everything! CON: Not likely to occur unless social structures and institutions change their makeup first.

REFERENCES Cha, Y. C. & Weeden, K.A. (2014). Overwork and the slow convergence in the gender gap in wages. American Sociological Review, 79(3), Cohen, P.N., Huffman, M.L., & Knauer, S. (2009). Stalled progress? Gender segregation and wage inequality among managers, Work and Occupations, 36(4) Cotter, D., Hermsen, J.M., Vanneman, R. (2011). The end of the gender revolution? Gender role attitudes from 1977 to American Journal of Sociology, 117(1) Gilbert, D. (8 th ed). (2011). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality. Thousand Oaks California: Pine Forge Press. Goldin C. (2014). A grand gender convergence: Its last chapter. American Economic Review, 104(4): Jacobs, J. A. (1992). Women’s entry into management: Trends in earnings, authority, and values among salaried managers. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, Pedulla, D.S., & Thebaud, S. (2015). Can we finish the revolution? Gender, work- family ideals, and institutional constraint. American Sociological Review, 80(1),

QUESTIONS: 1)What can be done to narrow the gender wage gap? 2)Do you think society is capable of making the changes necessary for true gender equality?