I am going to be discussing Gender and sex in higher education on Thursday. I'm going to be discussing the role gender and sex plays in higher education alongside, how can sexual violence plays a part in this gender gap between men and woman in the work force.
As you read chapter 8, I want you to keep in mind the phrase "feminization of higher education" as this plays a huge role in today's society and a couple of questions to keep in mind while you read the article.
Sexual assault and it's threat is a barrier to gender equality.
-Did you get to see students being treated differently when they were female than from when they were male?
- Career choices are influenced by gender roles, Do you think that this is what is effecting the gender gap we have in today's society?
- Why do you think men are paid more than woman?
Here is the link to the article
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/nwlcharassbullying_titleixfactsheet.pdf
*UPDATE*
On Thursday, we discussed Gender/Sex in Higher Education. I first started by explaining the phrase "Feminization of Higher Education" Which is when more young women than men, across race and ethnicity are entering college and also completing degrees. This is interesting, especially because given the gender wage gap, women still need more education to reach the same average income levels as a man. One of my questions during the discussion was "Why do you think women are paid more than men?" One of you commented that "it's just the way it's always been" which made me realize that is very true. Unfortunately. it always has been that way since the 1960's. A woman and a man could have all of the same credentials and work experience, but still get paid way less than a man (72 cents to a dollar to be exact). Woman are actually not going to earn the same annual earning as a man until around 2059, according to my research. I also spoke about how career choices are effected because of gender and education. One of you commented that "even careers are being separated by gender". Some jobs are being considered more "masculine" jobs and some are considered more "feminine". I related this back to the two culture approach, with the way that we communicate is being sectioned off to gender. Family communication is also effecting gender and sex in higher education. The OECD PISA survey shows that girls lack the same self confidence as boys in science and math. The survey declared that parents are actually much more likely to expect their sons to work in STEM careers than their daughters, even if they show that they have the same ability. I also discussed higher education employment. And how a lot of professors are male. One of you commented that in your classes majority of professors are female. Which I thought was very interesting. After reading that in the textbook, I began thinking about how many professors are female or male in my major. I think that it also depends on the major and the classes. More professors are male especially in STEM fields. The textbook touches upon that female teachers are actually being evaluated much harsher than men. Woman have to prove they are competent whereas men have to prove that they are not. Scholar Jackson Katz discussed that masculinity has changed in definition tremendous ways.
The article touches on sexual assault and how it effects the gender wage gap. It also discusses how not only women but also children are effected by the sexual or gender harassment.
Some questions I came up with are,
- Why do you think parents are encouraging with boys to go into STEM careers?
- Why do you think certain careers are associated with certain genders?
- Micheal Messor discusses how masculinity is becoming associated with "being aggressive and is perpetuates violence against women, LGBTQ person, and other men. Why do you think masculinity is developing a negative connotation?
- In what ways is sexual assault effecting the gender wage gap? (The article touches upon this)
Hey Maria,
ReplyDeleteI actually did a post in a different class about why more boys are going into the STEM careers and came up with that parents push boys more often becasue of these gendered viewpoints that males are more suited and better capable for it, which is ofcourse untrue because women have the same capability as men. I think that certain careers are associated with certain genders becasue of the traditional "hunter/gatherer" gender roles where men are supposed to provide for the family, this higher paid jobs such as STEM. While women are supposed to take care of the family and provide stability, thus the more family or support jobs such as child care. I think that although many have a negative connotation towards masculinity, it is not as negative as a lot of people make it out to be. It probably is getting this negative connotation because it is seen as being unemotional and very aggressive, which is true to an extent, but not to the negativity people are making it out to be. Lastly, I think that sexual assault is effecting the wage gap because it is dehumanizing the other gender, making it seem that it is okay to pay women less. Ofcourse I do not support any of this and feel it certainly needs to change.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty interesting. I think that plays into parents creating gender as well. Parents are surrounded by gender stereotypes and they pass it along. It's a never ending cycle. I agree with you in that men are seen as the providers and women are seen as suppose to take care of the family. I think that's why those jobs are also categorized as being masculine or feminine.
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteI think that men are being pushed into STEM careers over women because the idea is that women should pursue the "softer sciences" but someone has to do the STEM jobs (but it can't be women); if you follow what I'm saying. However, I think that women are as equally qualified for jobs of this nature. As a personal example, I have chosen to pursue a career in curatorial/library science (a soft science) due to male role models telling me that biochemistry probably wasn't a career field for a lady; insinuating women aren't smart enough to choose a career in biochem/biomedical sciences. I think that certain careers are associated with certain genders (like the example above) becuase of the stereotype and idea that women are softer in nature and are more of the urturing type; which would make for the belief that women should choose pink collar work.
Hi Jaci, that goes along with one of the points in my presentation. A lot of women are actually being advised not to follow careers in STEM or any other careers that society has categorized. Women are categorized like you said into softer nature jobs like you stated, women are considered emotional with even how they speak.
ReplyDeleteHi Maria!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your presentation. I would like to address the question that you originally posted “Why do you think men are paid more than woman?”
Firstly, traditionally, certain jobs were fitting for only women, or men. Even though a lot has changed since then and there have been many movements fighting for equal rights, women with families will not be as reliable as men. I know this sounds sexist, but in an article, I read by the New York Times, it talks about how women in America are not working as much as women in other European countries because of the lack of maternity leave etc. However, it also states that 61% of women said that the reason they are not working was due to family obligations and ¾ of them said that they would work if they were offered a job with more flexibility or if they would be able to work from home etc. When it comes to family obligations, many times the woman is the one “on call” so if a child is sick, has a school play, she will be the one missing work. While this doesn’t seem fair, that’s another discussion . Things are changing now, and a lot more families are dividing household jobs to try and make them equal, but studies still show that women who work do about 1.5 hours of household work every day, while men only do about an hour. ( that’s in families where they are dividing chores). To finally answer your question, men are paid more for two reasons. 1) sexism that has existed for many years but is slowly changing. 2) men with families are more dependable and reliable than women with families. ( of course this is mostly my opinion).
Here is the link to the article if you want to look. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/upshot/us-employment-women-not-working.html?_r=0
Myriam Kind
I enjoyed your presentation! It brought up a lot of points I didn’t think about but should pay attention to! As a women, who’s been working since she was 13, I related to a lot of hat you saying. Career choices are definitely impacted by gender roles. Women are definitely guided more towards roles that are more focused on communicating with people whereas men are guided to find jobs that are more hands on or take more intelligence. For example in a hospital people tend to think of men as the doctors solving the problems and healing people, whereas women are stereotypically seen as nurses who are the caretakers and administers medicine, they are also the ones who deal with the one on one interaction. I think men are paid more than women because of out of date values that they have to be the breadwinners for a household. Men are pushed towards jobs that are paid more and therefore there are more of them in said fields. The fact that it will take until about 2059 for the wage gap to close is ridiculous. That will be around the time many millennial will begin thinking of retiring.
ReplyDeleteSexual assault is most likely affecting the wage gap because it is more targeted at women typically so this may keep women out of certain positions. This is unfair because in a professional setting no one should feel uncomfortable doing their job. There are women out there who have quit their jobs because they didn’t want to go to work due to the inappropriate setting they worked in.
Kaitlyn Delaney
Hey Maria,
ReplyDeleteThank you for such a great presentation.I always find it interesting how women, who are typically and statistically more qualified for a certain position in the workplace, are oftentimes faced with unfair and unequal representation in comparison to their male counterparts. I am actually doing my research paper on socially constructed gender inequality and this presentation provided me with a lot of insight. Male dominance is just something that our society has been bombarded with since we were born. In regards to your question of why parents are pushing their sons into the STEM fields...I believe this is because they were brought up a certain way, and because of this they (unknowingly?) force their gender perspective onto their children. STEM jobs are also considerably higher paying jobs, which plays a role in the whole idea that men are the providers and money makers of the family. To answer your question regarding sexual assault and why it affects the wage gap... I argue that this is an idea that specifically targets women as an overall population, which restricts women from being in certain professional positions. Women are also faced with immense harassment in the workplace, which is part of the reason why women prevent themselves from being in certain workplace scenarios. This is a point that I made in my research paper, and it is something that I find to be extremely upsetting. I believe certain careers are assocaited with certain genders because the workplace is a common place for an indivudal to perform their gender. How women dress and speak affects the way their work colleagues view them.
Thank you again!
Taylor Corwin
Hi Maria, great questions.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think parents are encouraging with boys to go into STEM careers?
- Parents encourage boys to go into STEM careers because of the way society views the representation of boys.
Why do you think certain careers are associated with certain genders?
- Certain careers are associate with certain genders because of many reasons. These reasons could consist of physical strength, able to control emotions, able to HAVE emotions, and even down to being able to do the certain type of work while also caring for the home (male or female).
Micheal Messor discusses how masculinity is becoming associated with "being aggressive and is perpetuates violence against women, LGBTQ person, and other men. Why do you think masculinity is developing a negative connotation?
- Masculinity is developing a negative connotation because it has been associated with rape, and other things that happen in our society. When thinking of that word we think of negative things that men are pointed fingers at doing.
In what ways is sexual assault effecting the gender wage gap? (The article touches upon this)
- Sexual assault effects the gender wage gap because for example if a woman is making more than a man, they are harassed and assaulted for it. This is just one of the many reasons. The gender wage gap also gives men a feeling of power that they are making more than woman are so it gives them a sense of power that they feel they have over women.
I think some careers are associated with certain genders because of heteronormative stereotypes. Some jobs are seen in a certain light. Nurses are a great example of this because they have always been seen as a job for women. In recent years this has changed more as men have gone into the field of nursing. I believe masculinity is developing a negative connotation because of the way masculinity is portrayed in the media and in society. Masculinity is seen mainly as being rough and tough.
ReplyDelete