As Lilly M. Ledbetter,
the woman whose name was attached to a 2009 law that ensured equal pay for
women, watched from the gallery, the Senate voted, 52 to 47, to open debate on
the legislation, 8 votes short of the 60 required.‘It’s a very sad day here in the United States Senate,’
Senator Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland, said after the vote.
The bill would have built on the 2009 Ledbetter legislation,
which adjusted the statute of limitations on equal pay lawsuits. Tuesday’s bill
sought to bar companies from retaliating against workers who inquire about pay
disparities and open pathways for female employees to sue for punitive damages
in cases of paycheck discrimination. In 2010, the same bill failed a procedural
vote in the Senate when no Republican supported it.
The measure was part of Senate Democrats’ continuing effort
to highlight divisions with Republicans over women’s issues and to force
Republicans to take difficult votes on bills focused on domestic violence, wage
discrimination and other matters.
The only Republican to take to the floor to denounce the
measure was Senator Dean Heller of Nevada, who has authored his own legislation
that is less sweeping.
One would think that such a discussion as one regarding equal pay would be a thing of the past. However, years after the women's rights movement we are still fighting for workplace equality. The Senate's failure to act in favor of workplace equality is shocking. Now more than ever women need support. Below I share with you a research paper I wrote as I prepared to
graduate from George Mason University; it highlights the difference between women and men in the workplace and it demonstrates the need for change.
Gender Differences in
Work-Family Interaction:
Does Your Sex Make a Difference?
by Carmela Wood
Introduction
Occupational stress, an aspect of work-family conflict, is a
challenging matter and with the current economic crisis it is a matter that
should be analyzed in further depth. As a result, of the economic crisis, a lot
of individuals are struggling more with occupational stress – “Americans are
worried about losing their jobs” (Morris, 2009). In addition to work-related stress
individuals may struggle with maintaining their home. In an attempt to remain
employed during economic failure individuals are most likely devoting more time
and energy to work – the compensation theory – and their home life may be negatively
affected by experiences of stress at work – the spillover theory; this is an
issue that impacts both women and men. However, gender differences do exist.
Although, work-family conflict is challenging for women and men, women face
more challenges due to gender role ideology/attitudes and gender role values.
Overview
Traditionally, men were considered the breadwinners of their
household by being the primary person to supply their family’s income; this is
no longer true. “Profound changes in family structure and employment patterns
have taken place in recent decades;” (Drago, Black, & Wooden, 2005) women
are starting to be known as the breadwinners of their household. No longer are
women simply answering telephone calls at work instead, women are answering
telephone calls, writing proposals, and performing other executive tasks
accompanied with high ranking positions. However, the shift in employment patterns is
slow – according to Drago, Black, and Wooden’s 2005 study ”Female Breadwinner Families: Their Existence,
Persistence and Sources,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports only “24
percent of wives in dual-earner couples earn more than their husbands” (p. 344).
Despite, the slow changes in employment patterns, new trends
are occurring. In “Do Sexist Organizational Cultures Create the Queen Bee,”
Derks, Ellemers, Laar, and Groot (2011) investigate the emergence of “Queen
Bees” (p. 519). According, to the researchers Queen Bees in the workplace are
women in high ranking positions that are “dissociating themselves from their gender [and]
contributing to the gender stereotyping of other women” (p. 519). Derks, Ellemers, Laar, and Groot (2011) found
that the emergence of Queen Bee’s may be a result of simply being a female in a
masculine organizational culture – most of the high positioned women with low
gender identification experienced gender discrimination. Consequently, the
obstacles endured by Queen Bee’s lead to their negative behavior towards women
in lower positions. In addition to
gender discrimination the researchers propose that the behavior of Queen Bee’s
may be a response to the potential threat of their social identity at
workplaces where gender may not be valued. As a result of the changes occurring
around gender within the work domain, it is imperative that work and family research
further their investigations on gender differences; this may help clarify preceding
research.
In general previous investigations on gender differences in
work and family have produced contradicting results that tend to develop more
questions than answers. Several studies have found no significant difference
between women, men, and work-family conflict; Korabick, Lero, and Whitehead
outline a set of studies that support this premise in their 2008 hardback,
“Handbook of Work-Family Integration: Research, Theory, and Best Practices.”
However, majority of the research on gender difference in work-family conflict
has found differences. Some research has found that women experience higher
levels of work-family conflict than men, while other studies have found opposing
results.
Research Supporting
Men
Livingston and Burley’s 1991 study, “Surprising Initial
Findings Regarding Sex, Sex Role, and Anticipated Work-Family Conflict” found
significant results in support of men anticipating more challenges than women in
work-family interaction. Unlike the majority of research on gender differences
in work and family the researchers focus their study on the future rather than
the past or current circumstances of their participants. Their sample of college
women and men produced interesting results – men as opposed to women expected
greater career conflict in the future. The researchers propose that their
findings may be explained through Pleck’s (1997) asymmetrical permeability
hypothesis. According to Livingston and Burley (1991) Pleck’s (1997) theory suggests that “men are permitted to forego family
activities for work and women to forego work for family activities;” (p. 736)
hence, women may not expect career conflict as much as men.
Although, Livingston and Burley’s 1991 study offers an
innovative tactic – analyzing beliefs of the future – to understanding gender
differences, their research has several limitations. One limitation of the research
is the age group of their participants; 67.5 percent of their participants were
under 20. Furthermore, the researchers were limited to Caucasian men and women.
82.4 percent of their sample was Caucasian; therefore only 17.6 percent of
their sample were ethic. Due to the study’s limitations the results may not be generalized
to other groups of people – for example African American’s, Latino’s, Asians,
etc.; this problem of reliability is seen in various studies on gender
differences.
Research Supporting
Women
In an attempt to
resolve the shortcomings of previous research on gender differences Emslie and Hunt’s
2009 study, “’Live to Work’ or ‘Work to Live’?
A Qualitative Study of Gender and Work-life Balance among Men and Women
in Mid-life” employs an infrequently used methodology – qualitative instead of
quantitative – to assist in their research; this allows them to find significant
results in support of women facing more challenges than men in work-family
interaction. While, they found women and men to have similar problems with
work-family balance, in accordance to previous studies, the researchers
discover that women, unlike men, have longer lasting problems. In their investigation
women tended to struggle with current issues of “juggling paid work, adult
children and ageing parents, while the men tended to locate problems of work–life
balance in the past…when paid work conflicted with the demands of raising young
children” (p. 166). Ultimately, women experience more work-family conflict than
men.
In addition to Emslie and Hunt’s (2009) study Lundberg and
Frankenhauser (1999) found distinct differences in women and men in their
investigation on “Stress and Workload of Men and Women in High Ranking
Positions.” According to their study, most women as opposed to men felt they
must surpass the opposite sex in work performance in order to obtain a
promotion. Moreover, they found that women have more family responsibilities;
this increases the overall workload of working women. Thus, women in comparison
to men appear to have less of a “favorable situation” (p. 149) both at work and
at home. Additional findings in Lundberg and Frankenhauser’s study reveal
neurological differences in women and men. It appears that cortisol is more significant
to men after work whereas epinephrine and norepinephrine is more significant to
women after work; this biologically confirms that females’ may have more
workload than men, because instead of relaxing after work women are predisposed
to higher levels of adrenaline or epinephrine. One could presume that the
increase in adrenaline in women after work is due to the fact that women may
need additional stimulants to affectively carry out responsibilities at
home.
Similar to Lundberg and Frankenhauser’s study, gender
differences were found at home in Biernat and Wortman’s 1991 study, “Sharing of
Home Responsibilities between Professionally Employed Women and Their Husbands.“
According to Biernat and Wortman’s study, wives reported having greater
responsibilities in the home than their husbands. Husbands were responsible for
a few household chores such as repairs and laundry. Nonetheless, wives reported
having greater responsibility for household chores including shopping, cooking,
cleaning, and managing money. Accordingly, the researchers were able to further
highlight the responsibilities of women and men in the home; it is evident that
the division in household chores is not equal – women bear most of the
workload. However, wives were not dissatisfied with the division of household
chores; in fact wives appeared to be more critical of themselves than of their
husbands. Women’s satisfaction with unequal workload at home may be a result of
women expecting to have more workload.
Triana’s 2001 study “A Woman’s Place and a Man’s Duty: How
Gender Role Incongruence in One’s Family Life Can Result in Home-Related
Spillover Discrimination at Work” further emphasizes the challenges women face
by questioning the place of women – Do
they belong in the workplace? Should they make more money than men? Similar to
Drago, Black, & Wooden (2005) (see p. 2) the researcher investigates female
breadwinners or primary wage earners and finds significant results in support
of women potentially experiencing higher levels of work-family conflict. Triana
(2001) found that individuals were “more
surprised to see female primary wage earners and male secondary wage earners
than female secondary wage earners and male primary wage earners;” (p. 73) such
results demonstrate that female breadwinners are perceived as uncommon.
Although, females have been proven to be slowly earning more money than their
male counterpart, it is evident that society has yet to notice the change in
employment pattern. Moreover, Triana (2001) found that individuals were more likely to rate secondary wage earning
men as “overqualified” (p. 79) rather than primary wage earning women; this
suggests that women may hurt themselves professionally by deviating from the
traditional view of women who simply answers telephone calls. It is apparent
that men experience more of an advantage than a disadvantage, while women
experience more of a disadvantage than an advantage.
Although, research
that supports women and their challenge to balance work and family has produced
significant results, they have limitations. Like, the research that supports
men experiencing higher levels of work-family conflict, research that supports
women raises the question of generalizability. Some studies are limited to a
certain age group (Derks, Ellemers, Laar, & Groot, 2011; Triana, 2001)
while other studies make their
results more reliable by incorporating a range of ages (Emslie &
Hunt, 2009; Lundberg & Frankenhauser, 1999). Other research is restricted to a particular ethnicity (Triana,
2001). Despite, the limitations that can be seen in some of the research,
results have been proven to be quite consistent regarding women and their
experience of work-family conflict; women experience more work-family conflict
than men (Derks, Ellemers, Laar, & Groot, 2011; Emslie & Hunt, 2009;
Lundberg & Frankenhauser, 1999; Biernat & Wortman, 1991).
Conclusion
In recent years
women have been proving their place in the world. Although, society has yet to
notice the change in employment patterns, women are starting to become the breadwinners
of their household. Such occurrences validates women’s place; women are an integral
part of the workforce and home life.
Similar to a juggler one would see on the
streets entertaining onlookers with their juggling abilities of three or more
objects, women are juggling work demands along with family demands. Despite, their
incredible abilities, women are still at a disadvantage; men appear to face fewer
challenges than women in balancing work and family due to society’s
ideas of gender and gender role values.
Clearly, women are resilient; although, society has placed a number of obstacles
in the way of their progression - [including the Senate's failure to act Tuesday] - women are rising to the
challenge. However, the resilience of women could be negatively impacted by the
current economic crisis. Now
more than ever we must recognize that gender differences do exist, and women
are the ones that are at a disadvantage. As a society we must change the way we
think and the way we do business in order to improve the well-being of both
women and men.
I ask you "
Who's there to save the hero? Who's there to save the [woman]...?" (Save the Hero)
____________________________________________
Reference
Biernat, M., & Wortman, C. B. (1991). Sharing of home
responsibilities between professionally employed women and their
husbands. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60 (6), 844-860.
Derks,B., Ellemers, N., Laar, C.,
& Groot, K. (2011). Do Sexist Organizational Culture Create the Queen Bee. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 519–535
Drago, R., Black, D., & Wodden, M. (2005). Female Breadwinner
Families: Their Existence,
Persistence and Sources. Journal of
Sociology, 41 (4), 343-362
Emslie, C., & Hunt, K. (2009). ’Live to Work’ or ‘Work to
Live’? A Qualitative Study of Gender and
Work-life Balance among Men and Women in Mid-life. Gender, Work, and Organization, 16 (1), 151-172.
Korabik, K., Lero, D.S., &
Whitehead, D.L. (2008). Handbook of
Work-Family Integration: Research,
Theory, and Best Practices. Oxford, UK: Academic Press.
Livingston, M.M., & Burley, K.A.
(1991). Surprising Initial Findings Regarding Sex, Sex Role, and Anticipated Work-Family Conflict. Psychological Reports, 68, 735-738
Lundberg, U., & Frakenhaeuser,
M. (1999). Stress and Workload of Men and Women in High Ranking Positions. Journal
of Occupational Health Psychology, 4 (2), 142-151.
Morris, S.S. (2011). Review of the
book American Jobs: What Response from U.S. Economic Policy,
by J. Bhagwati & A. S. Blinder. Human Resource Management, 50 (2),
303- 306.
Triana, C.M. (2001). A Woman’s Place and a Man’s Duty: How
Gender Role Incongruence in One’s Family
Life Can Result in Home-Related Spillover Discrimination at Work. Journal of Buissness and Psychology 26 (1), 71-86.
