Gender Bias as Related to Women in the Workplace

By Nancy Elder Walden Ph.D.

The book traces the history of gender bias toward women throughout history and contains a study specifically geared toward bias, which occurs in the careers of women, and demonstrates that the participation of females and males in the workforce is quite evident. A considerable amount of research exists that describes the lack of gender equity in the workplace. What is happening in the workplace and what should be happening in the workplace, in fact, appears to be quite different. This empirical study includes original surveys, secondary analyses of the data, and reports that offer significant factors with regards to gender equity in the workplace.

As reported in numerous pieces of literature, men are often unable to understand what women want which is carried over into the workplace with the feeling that people act and talk differently.

Consequently, the workplace hurts women. The reader will also become familiar with other enlightened people in our democracy who have assisted with this struggle in their efforts to improve and to bring further attention to gender equity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 14, 2000
• ISBN: 9781462806270

Nancy Elder Walden Ph.D.

The author is a divorced mother of one adult daughter, Sharon Renee Gholson. She is involved in a relationship with a significant other, did clerical work for six years prior to teaching, has held several part-time clerical jobs while teaching, taught 22 years in the Public Schools in Petersburg, Virginia and has just completed 9 years in the Fairfax County Schools, Fairfax, Virginia. She organized a Girls’ Club at Annandale High School where she is currently assigned. Not only is she an active member of the James Solomon Russell Lions’ Den, but has served as its secretary and currently serves as treasurer of the Organization. The author has sponsored Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), is President of Women Ushers at Gillfield Baptist Church in Petersburg and organized the women for a District Conference from Virginia and Washington, DC. She is also a Golden Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Book preview

Copyright ©2000 by Nancy Elder Walden, Ph.D..

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-7-XLIBRIS

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of the Study

Rationale

CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGY

AND PROCEDURES

Data and Methods

Home-Related Versus Work-Related Criticism

Marital Status, Parental Status, and Criticism

Differentiation between Home

and Work-Related Criticism

Expectations Regarding Criticism

of Gender Inequality

Discussion and Conclusions

CHAPTER III

FINDINGS AND EVALUATION

Historical Perspective

The Age of Reason

The Rise of Women’s Movements

The Right to Vote

Contemporary Women’s Movements

Women’s Organizations

Legal Gains

Protective Legislation

The Equal Pay Act

The 1964 Civil Rights Act

The Wage Gap and Pay Equity

The Gender Differential

Gender Equity in Foreign Markets

Progress in Women’s Employment Rights

The Future

CHAPTER IV

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS,

AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

Conclusion

Recommendations

APPENDIX A:

Text of Attitudinal Items and

Index-Construction Details

APPENDIX B:

Distributions for Selected Social

and Demographic Characteristics

of the Sample

REFERENCES

This book is dedicated to my mother,

Mrs. Hattie Mae Elder,

who is always proud of my accomplishments and my father,

Jack Mitchell Elder,

who if he were alive, would be equally as proud.

It is also dedicated to my long-time, devoted partner,

Clarence H. McNeill,

who assisted, inspired and encouraged me

immensely throughout this study;

to my daughter, Sharon;

to my siblings,

Henry, Frances, Curtis and Jack;

and to numerous women

who share the same sentiments that I do.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer thanks the Librarians at Annandale High School, Annandale, Virginia; the Librarians at George Mason Library, Annandale, Virginia; the Librarians at the Ettrick-Matoaca Library, Ettrick, Virginia; the Librarians at the Petersburg Public Library, Petersburg, Virginia, the Richmond-Times Dispatch and numerous other agencies who shared their expertise with her.

ABSTRACT

The participation of women and men in the workforce is quite evident. A considerable amount of research exists that describes the lack of gender equity in the workplace. What is happening in the workplace and what should be happening in the workplace, in fact, appears to be quite different. This empirical study includes original surveys, secondary analyses of the data, and reports that offer significant factors with regards to gender equity in the workplace.

As reported in numerous pieces of literature, men are often unable to understand what women want which is carried over into the workplace with the feeling that people act and talk differently.

This causes the workplace to hurt women, and so this book along with other enlightened people in our democracy who have assisted with this struggle, is intended to improve and to bring further attention to gender equity.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

It’s no secret that despite all the progress made, full-time working women still make less than three quarters for every $1 that men earn and female college graduates still make less than what men with only a high school diploma do. Though women are paid better and are far more literate than they were a decade ago, more progress needs to be made to eliminate the gender bias in the workplace. (1)

Women’s movements have enabled large groups of women to question gender bias and to determine their rights and responsibilities. The specific goals and methods of these movements have varied from one time and place to another, depending on local customs regarding the treatment of women, on national political values, and on economic conditions. But in almost every case, women’s movements have won greater freedom for women to act as self-sufficient individuals, rather than as dependent wives or daughters.

Background

Throughout history, women have usually had fewer rights and a lower social status than men. The traditional role of wife and mother dominated, and most women’s lives centered on their households. Women’s movements first developed during the 1800s in the United States and Europe and then spread to other parts of the world. The first women’s movements arose largely in response to the coming of modern urban and industrial society. The industrial age brought about great economic and political changes, creating upheaval in women’s traditional roles and causing women to question their status and situation. The first wave of women’s movements concentrated primarily on gaining voting rights for women.

A second wave of women’s movements emerged during the 1960s, another period of great political and social change in many parts of the world. These contemporary women’s movements have sought greater equality for women in the family, in the workplace, and in political life.

Statement of the Problem

Gender bias as related to women in the workplace is unquestionable because of the numerous situations whereby women and men are working in one employment and also doing the same work and women being paid less. Because of this behavior gender bias should be corrected otherwise women will continue to experience bias in the workplace.

Purpose of the Study

This study discusses the history of, identifies the progress made, and suggests some recommended courses of action to end gender bias in the workplace as it relates to women.

Rationale

When people speak of women’s employment rights, they are actually referring to their work as members of the labor force for which they receive wages or salaries. In every society an increasing number of women have joined this work force thus making employment rights more significant than ever before. Women work outside the home for the same reasons as men which is to support them and their families. Traditionally men were seen as the major breadwinners for their families and so employers considered it acceptable to pay them higher wages.

When women began working outside the home, they worked during the years before they were married, stayed at home while they were rearing their families, and perhaps returned to the workplace after their children grew up. Of course, some women, particularly those who had low incomes, had to continue to work even when they had families. People ignored the gap between this reality and the ideal image that their fathers or husbands could support women. In the 1920s, about 25 per cent of women worked outside the home. A large expansion of women in the workforce occurred in the 1940s, during World War II, when women held jobs that had previously been occupied only by men. In the 1950s, while the media attempted to romanticize the role of the housewife and mother, many women found that these roles were not totally fulfilling, and they returned to work at part-time jobs, when their children were in school. A growing number of women also found that it was necessary to work outside the home to help support their families. Because of the steady increase in the number of women employed outside the home, each decade from the 1960s through the 1990s has considerably increased in activity. Women’s participation in the workforce has increased rights for women. Basically these demands were focused on gaining access to jobs that have previously been considered for men only and improving the wages of women who are employed.

Today, the most notable single change in women’s lives may be their growing participation in the paid labor force. In the United States, the percentage of employed women rose from 28 per cent in 1940 to 57 per cent in 1989. For married women with children under 18 and a job, the percentage rose dramatically, from 18 per cent in 1950 to 66 per cent in 1988. The contemporary women’s movement contributed to an increasing acceptance of careers for all women, including mothers with young children. Such changes were associated in part with a growing expectation that women would combine employment with their roles as wife and mother.

However, long-standing differences between the sexes in job opportunities and in earnings showed little sign of disappearing, even in such progressive nations as Sweden. The majority of women’s job opportunities still fell within a narrow range of occupations, such as nursing, teaching, retail sales, and secretarial work. Largely because of lower pay in these women’s jobs, women working full-time and the year around continued to earn less than men. In the United States in 1988, such women earned about 70 percent of what men earned. Furthermore, women throughout the world continued to face the ‘double burden’ of being primarily a homemaker while also working outside the home.

CHAPTER II

METHODOLOGY

AND PROCEDURES

Data and Methods

Gender bias in the workplace has its inception in the inequality that begins at home. The data presented here are drawn from a public opinion survey conducted through the telephone to a sample of adults in the United States between September 1990 and June 1991. Selected social and demographic characteristics of the sample are summarized in Appendix B. The questionnaire was designed