Blog #2

1)What is meant by “sex segregation”? How do you see sex segregation exist in employment at ASU?

Sex segregation is when men and women hold different jobs requiring different kinds of skills. It is usually the “male” jobs that get higher earnings than “female” jobs. In the 1970’s there was a decrease of sex segregation but even within the same job category women still performed in a lower occupational classification. Occupation classifications measure the tasks that people perform. For example when more women became bakers they usually dominated the more automated or simpler job of making cakes and cookies while the men still performed the more difficult and higher paying job of making breads.
The biggest contributors to sex segregation are employers who discriminate in hiring placement and promotion based on their company’s personal taste. Taste discrimination refers to a preference for not hiring members of a particular group. They define taste as something one is willing to pay to indulge. For example employers with a discriminatory taste may have to decide how much money they are willing to lose to avoid hiring women. An example of this happened to me when I worked as a back waiter in an upscale restaurant. Three of the servers had called off and instead of placing me as the server my supervisor got another male back waiter to act as server. She said that he was more likely to be able to carry the heavy trays than I was even though I had the same experience as he did doing the same job.
Finally there is a gender gap in pay that can be explained in terms of individual and structural factors. The individual factors may be the skills or motivations that a particular group has in regards to their job. An example of this is that more males than females receive paid job training. This could be because males tend be with a particular firm longer than women. Statistics show that men on average have 20 years of job experience while women only have 14. In terms of structural factors, some companies are structured to reward employees to detriment women’s achievement. For example some employers do not offer reasonable maternity leave policies which can affect the woman’s overall salary.
At ASU sex discrimination can be seem in the from the administration offices of our colleges to the kitchens in the cafeterias. For example the assistant dean, like at the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences, may be female while the more lucrative position as dean may be male. It can also be seen at Pitchforks Buffet where the only women are seen re-stoking the salad bar, a relatively simple task, while only males are seen grilling burgers. The males grilling burgers wear chef’s hats while the women only wear hair nets which leads me to believe that the male’s salaries are much higher than the women’s.

2)Identity the ways your own socialization at home, school and work reproduce gender roles. How is this socialization related to patriarchy?

The process by which we learn to conform to society’s norms, values and roles and helps us shape who we are is called socialization. The nature factor establishes who we are by the genetic background that we have inherited from our parents. The nurture factor takes into account how much of our definition of self came from the environment we grew up in. My own socialization was established in a patriarchal family. Patriarchy is a form of social organization where the father is the head authority of a family. I was taught that my mother was the one who would cook and clean and take care of my brother while my dad worked two jobs to pay the bills and support our family.
This type of nurturing while growing up was a huge contributor to my socialization and my role as a person. For example, I feel that that I should know how to cook and clean so that I can take care of my children like my mother did but I also know that I want don’t want to depend on a man for my financial stability like my mom did. This helped shape my strong drive to get into college so that I can find a good job so that I can support my own family alone if I have to.
My socialization also came from watching the media which plays a huge role in gender stereotypes. A stereotype in the media helps the viewer make a quick assessment as to what the character is like or should be. According to the video clip on Sexual Stereotypes in the media these stereotypes are affecting both males and females. Although in the recent years the gender roles are becoming more gender neutral, we still have a long way to go.

3) Reflecting on the radio report, “Moms Become Breadwinners As Job Losses Hit Men,” explain how sex segregation and the wage gap persists even when more men are unemployed.
According to the NPR report job losses are hitting men heavily. Sex segregation and the wage gap still exist because the job sectors that have affected men the hardest were male dominated to begin with. It is not likely for a construction company to hire a women or anyone for that matter after laying off workers. The wage gap remains the same because women still earn $.77 for every $1.00 that men earn. I feel that regardless of the economy, women are just more likely to take time off because their jobs as mothers often times require them too which leads to lower overall earnings than men. Finally the main reason that women are becoming the breadwinners because this because women are taking on second jobs; about 14% of working mothers have taken second jobs in the last year to make ends meet.