Organization initiatives that need to occur before work/life balance can be obtained and equity among men and women is gained in the legal profession varies. One of the initiatives is to form a system. “Many respondents complained that systems within organizations often were nonexistent, or poorly designed to prevent inadequacies. The value of a good system is inestimable; a host of gender issues occur because of a lack of alignment between a professed policy and actual practice.” (306) These systems can be used in many different ways. For example they can be used for performance reviews, mentoring, work assignments, flexible work arrangements, risk taking and measurements for success. Along with systems, organization initiatives include engaging in dialogue. “Organizations that seek to reconcile clashing views often employ open group debate and dialogue techniques and reach a consensus and find common ground.” (310) Two topics that require engaging in heavy dialogue would be workplace responsibility and underlying attitude. If those things are not discussed in an organization, then they can lead to many problems.
When it comes to re-imaging the future, English believes, “ We can’t get to the numerical goals without embracing new, broad ideas. One way to do that is to go back to first principles about how best to deliver legal services, who makes a good lawyer, the best way to manage a workplace, and the most effective way to deal with the intersection between personal and professional lives.” (315) I think all of these are very good points brought up by English. Both males and females in the office need to work together in order to make the environment more compatible for themselves as well as their clients. The structure of a good lawyer and the norms of a good lawyer need to be revamped too. The norms need to be set for both male and female and not just male. When you take these things and put them together, there is hope for a re-imaged future, but it is going to take a lot of time and effort and that needs to be recognized as well.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
38
Florence E. Allen was known as The First Lady of Law. Allen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 23, 1884. She attended New York University School of Law and graduated with her law degree in 1913. She had many firsts in her life, but the most significant one was probably when she was the first woman appointed to a federal court, when President Franklin Roosevelt named her to be the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was also serve as justice to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Florence set the standards for women. It was as if she gave women the go ahead to become a part of the legal profession and make something of themselves. She was the many of first which just opened up the opportunity for other women, without Allen, who knows where women would stand today in the legal profession.
Bella Abzug was elected to Congress as a Representative from New York’s 19th district in 1971. She was born in the Bronx, New York on July 24, 1920. On the website www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org the article about Abzug by Blanche Wisen Cook, Cook states, “Abzug predated women’s right to vote by one month. A fighter for justice and peace, equal rights, human dignity, environmental integrity and sustainable development, Bella Abzug has advanced human goals and political alliances worldwide.” Although known for her labor law skills, but, “Above all, Abzug achieved splendid victories for women. She initiated the congressional caucus on women’s issues, helped organize the National Women’s Political Caucus, and served as chief strategist for the Democratic Women’s Committee, which achieved equal representation for women in all elective and appointive posts, including presidential conventions. She wrote the first law banning discrimination against women in obtaining credit, credit cards, loans, and mortgages, and introduced pioneering bills on comprehensive child care, Social Security for homemakers, family planning, and abortion rights.” says Cook.
Abzug stood up for women and fought for their rights. She opened up so many new windows for women. She opened women up to an entire different world that gave them the opportunity to go and make a life by themselves. She gave women the opportunity to not have to rely on men in order to get houses and things like that because she got women the right to have credit and things like that. She opened up new ideas for women lawyers and showed them the way.
Florence set the standards for women. It was as if she gave women the go ahead to become a part of the legal profession and make something of themselves. She was the many of first which just opened up the opportunity for other women, without Allen, who knows where women would stand today in the legal profession.
Bella Abzug was elected to Congress as a Representative from New York’s 19th district in 1971. She was born in the Bronx, New York on July 24, 1920. On the website www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org the article about Abzug by Blanche Wisen Cook, Cook states, “Abzug predated women’s right to vote by one month. A fighter for justice and peace, equal rights, human dignity, environmental integrity and sustainable development, Bella Abzug has advanced human goals and political alliances worldwide.” Although known for her labor law skills, but, “Above all, Abzug achieved splendid victories for women. She initiated the congressional caucus on women’s issues, helped organize the National Women’s Political Caucus, and served as chief strategist for the Democratic Women’s Committee, which achieved equal representation for women in all elective and appointive posts, including presidential conventions. She wrote the first law banning discrimination against women in obtaining credit, credit cards, loans, and mortgages, and introduced pioneering bills on comprehensive child care, Social Security for homemakers, family planning, and abortion rights.” says Cook.
Abzug stood up for women and fought for their rights. She opened up so many new windows for women. She opened women up to an entire different world that gave them the opportunity to go and make a life by themselves. She gave women the opportunity to not have to rely on men in order to get houses and things like that because she got women the right to have credit and things like that. She opened up new ideas for women lawyers and showed them the way.
37
In “Charting Our Progress”, they held hearings and collected data in 2003 to compare to what they had collected in 1988 and 1995. “Once again, the date revealed incremental progress- slightly higher percentages of law firm partnerships, judicial appointments, and tenured faculty positions- but brought into sharper focus the continuing disparity in advancement that women face, with an even greater disparity among women lawyers of color.” (4) Of course, men still hold the majority of leadership positions, but women are slowly trying to make their way up there. Some of the research that was found was: “from the 2003 hearings and data since 1995: the percentage of women in all aspects of the profession has grown. The representation of women in the profession grew to 29.1% of all lawyers in the United States, from 23% in 1994. Moreover, as the statistics below illustrate, women have increased their presence in law schools, in law firm partnerships, as general counsels of major corporations, and in the judiciary. From approximately 1994 to 2002: the percentage of law school entrants who were women increased from 45% to 50%; the percentage of women partners in major law firms increased from 12.91% to 16.3%; the percentage of women general counsels in Fortune 500 companies increased from 4% to 15%. (5)
In English’s book, she points out that although women have made progress, they have a very long way to go. As the report tries to stick to the positive side and only point out the good, English makes it a point to say, yes, we have made progress, but not as much as we should have and here are the things we need to do to fix it. “Despite this progress, women remain outsiders in many respects, the targets of lingering gender stereotypes that reflect positively on men but negatively on women. This is in part because the default image of a lawyer remains solidly male, dominated by men in numbers, attitudes, expectations, and assumptions.” (296)
In English’s book, she points out that although women have made progress, they have a very long way to go. As the report tries to stick to the positive side and only point out the good, English makes it a point to say, yes, we have made progress, but not as much as we should have and here are the things we need to do to fix it. “Despite this progress, women remain outsiders in many respects, the targets of lingering gender stereotypes that reflect positively on men but negatively on women. This is in part because the default image of a lawyer remains solidly male, dominated by men in numbers, attitudes, expectations, and assumptions.” (296)
36
Can corporate America lure the women back into the workforce? Well I think that all depends on one major thing, does America wants women back in the workforce? Now, a majority of people’s first reaction is going to be yes, but I think that is only because people think that is what they are suppose to say and women do not want an answer of what people are suppose to say. Of course corporate America can lure women back into the workforce, especially now since we are in a recession, but is America willing to give women the things they want in order to get them into the workforce, or are they going to just take advantage of them and get them back in not matter what? I think if America wants to lure women back into the workforce all they really have to do is make them some promises, tell them things they want to hear and boom, they are back in, but are they going to be able to keep them in? Women these days are much more powerful and independent then they were ten years ago. Yes of course they do not have as much power as they would like, but they are working on it. I think in order for America to get women back in the workforce AND keep them there, it is going to take some compromise and better understanding of women.
I think in order for America to lure women back in they are going to have to promise equality and show it. I think women are going to need higher positions and higher pay; they are going to want to earn just as much as men and be given the same tasks as men and it is not hard to find out exactly what men are paid and what they do. I also think women are going to need more respect towards motherhood and how they want to balance their family life and work life. If things like that are taken into consideration I think America can lure women back into the workforce, but if things are going to keep going the way they are going they are going to lose more women and it is going to be even more harmful to our economy.
I think in order for America to lure women back in they are going to have to promise equality and show it. I think women are going to need higher positions and higher pay; they are going to want to earn just as much as men and be given the same tasks as men and it is not hard to find out exactly what men are paid and what they do. I also think women are going to need more respect towards motherhood and how they want to balance their family life and work life. If things like that are taken into consideration I think America can lure women back into the workforce, but if things are going to keep going the way they are going they are going to lose more women and it is going to be even more harmful to our economy.
35
In the article “EEOC Recommends Employer “Best Practices” to Promote Work/Family Balance” by Joanna L. Grossman, the discuss the things companies should do in order to promote work/family balance and how important it is so recognize the difficulties women go through when trying to balance both. They also point out that not only is it mothers trying to take care of children, but it is also women trying to take care of aging parents or relatives with disabilities. In Gender on Trial, English says in order to get to an understanding between the balance of work and family, people have to stop disregarding part time lawyers and believe that they are just as good as full time lawyers. “There is a genuine confusion about how flexibility can work, for both sides. But there can’t be a real commitment to strengthening systems until the basic validity of a lawyer working different hours is accepted. So long as lawyers believe that full time is “the standard unit, and anything less than that is sub par,” there’s little motivation or zeal for revamping policies and procedures and enforcing systems rigorously.” (216) So, until everybody comes to a common understanding, people cannot move forward with the balance between work and family.
There are many reasons to consider what comes out of people balancing work and family, like part time schedules. Although part-time schedules seem to be a problem of balancing work and family, if you look at it from a positive angle you can see all the positive things that come out of it. High turnover and broad dissatisfaction in legal workplaces are causes of not being able to balance family and work life, so if schedules were more flexible that would not be a problem. Also, you would have more time to enjoy life, changing social trends, and with technology today, you could do more work at home and still be connected with the office.
There are many reasons to consider what comes out of people balancing work and family, like part time schedules. Although part-time schedules seem to be a problem of balancing work and family, if you look at it from a positive angle you can see all the positive things that come out of it. High turnover and broad dissatisfaction in legal workplaces are causes of not being able to balance family and work life, so if schedules were more flexible that would not be a problem. Also, you would have more time to enjoy life, changing social trends, and with technology today, you could do more work at home and still be connected with the office.
34
Work/life balance problems seem to constantly be a problem. In every job, people, both male and female, have to decide which life they are going to put first, their work life or their family life. Although almost everybody wants to balance both, that seems to be an impossibility in most cases. This issue hits close to home for me because I want to be a part of the legal profession after I am done with law school and I do not know if I am going to be able to balance both. I know that personally would be able to balance both because I have balanced my family, school and part-time job all through college and most of high school, but I do not know if society is going to let me balance both and this had held me back a little when deciding if I really do want to pursue my goal of becoming a lawyer and I do not think that is fair.
In the interview between Debra Levy and Joan Williams, one of the questions brought up was “It seems that many women of today leave the work force as a form of resistance to a work culture that makes it difficult to raise their children as they think best. What role did feminism play in the development of this type of work culture?” And Williams answered that, “Mainstream feminism asked women to perform like men. It did not start from where women are-caring for their children with a strong value system that dictates that desire. The movement for equality devalued mothers and the ideal of care giving in our society. But it is also true that the push for work/family balance has come from within feminism. One of the things I do is critique full-commodification feminism, which is the sense that women’s equality lies in performing as ideal workers along with men, and delegating childcare to outsiders.” This goes along with our book Gender on Trial in a way because in Gender on Trial it discusses how when women are in a profession such as being a lawyer or in the legal field, they are not expected to have babies and if they do, then they are looked at differently and looked at as if they cannot handle the work they use to. In Gender on Trial when a women lawyer has a baby, some of them take on part-time jobs and that is really not acceptable. In the end it does not work out the way it is suppose to.
This also leads to another question in the interview that asked, “Why is the ideal worker norm so damaging to mothers in our society?” Williams says it is so damaging because, “Most women with children cannot live up to a norm designed around the model of a man without childcare responsibilities.” I agree, the ideal worker norm is set to a man’s standard, not even taking into consideration a woman’s standard and especially not a woman who is a mother. This is also brought up in Gender on Trial. In the book they discuss the norm and how the norm is male, therefore leaving it almost impossible for women to ever fit that norm.
In the interview between Debra Levy and Joan Williams, one of the questions brought up was “It seems that many women of today leave the work force as a form of resistance to a work culture that makes it difficult to raise their children as they think best. What role did feminism play in the development of this type of work culture?” And Williams answered that, “Mainstream feminism asked women to perform like men. It did not start from where women are-caring for their children with a strong value system that dictates that desire. The movement for equality devalued mothers and the ideal of care giving in our society. But it is also true that the push for work/family balance has come from within feminism. One of the things I do is critique full-commodification feminism, which is the sense that women’s equality lies in performing as ideal workers along with men, and delegating childcare to outsiders.” This goes along with our book Gender on Trial in a way because in Gender on Trial it discusses how when women are in a profession such as being a lawyer or in the legal field, they are not expected to have babies and if they do, then they are looked at differently and looked at as if they cannot handle the work they use to. In Gender on Trial when a women lawyer has a baby, some of them take on part-time jobs and that is really not acceptable. In the end it does not work out the way it is suppose to.
This also leads to another question in the interview that asked, “Why is the ideal worker norm so damaging to mothers in our society?” Williams says it is so damaging because, “Most women with children cannot live up to a norm designed around the model of a man without childcare responsibilities.” I agree, the ideal worker norm is set to a man’s standard, not even taking into consideration a woman’s standard and especially not a woman who is a mother. This is also brought up in Gender on Trial. In the book they discuss the norm and how the norm is male, therefore leaving it almost impossible for women to ever fit that norm.
33
The advancement of women in the legal profession is increasing little by little. The number of women in the legal profession is very little and the progress is moving very slowly, but they believe it will get there one day. To prove this, some women have taken the steps to starting their own law firm where only women are present. In the article, “Women’s History Month: Cracking The Glass Ceiling One Client At A Time”, two high powered litigators walked away from a high-powered firm and started their own firm and their means were to break the glass ceiling. Women do not hold nearly as many high end positions as men, but they are trying and eventually they will get there. Women are working very hard towards their masters and their PhD’s and although it is not paying off now, it eventually will. In the article, “Women’s History Month: Closing In On Office Gender Gap” by Rebecca Spitz, she states, “Continuing a trend that started in the 1980’s, women are taking on a larger role in the working world. “Increasingly as women have become more educated they’ve wanted to earn salaries to contribute to the family,” says Sheila Wellington, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. “As opportunities open up, women have wanted to be part of that upward movement.”
Although advances like starting their own businesses and raising the numbers of female attorneys in firms and higher positions in firms are being made, women still face a lot of challenges as well. Women need to put themselves out their more, they need to bargain for more and in the end they will most likely get it. A lot of women are taken advantage of simply because they are women; they are not given everything they should be given because people do not think they deserve it or can handle it and that needs to change.
Although advances like starting their own businesses and raising the numbers of female attorneys in firms and higher positions in firms are being made, women still face a lot of challenges as well. Women need to put themselves out their more, they need to bargain for more and in the end they will most likely get it. A lot of women are taken advantage of simply because they are women; they are not given everything they should be given because people do not think they deserve it or can handle it and that needs to change.
32
Parenthood seems too differ greatly when attached to women lawyers vs. men lawyers. When parenthood is looked at with women lawyers, it is looked down upon, it seems as if they believe that it is impossible for women to do. In English’s book, it states, “A Southwestern attorney, now thirty-eight and with two children, recalls the exact moment she was transformed from successful attorney to mother: I hid my first pregnancy for seven months, because I was afraid I would be taken off the docket. At the very last minute I said, “Guess what, I’m having a baby next month.” The head of the management committee sat me down, shaking his head with amazement, and said, “I can’t believe you’re pregnant. You seemed so professional.” It wasn’t said in a mean way-it was a shock. “How you can do that?” he seemed to say. The mistake, on the one hand, was acting like a man and then, on the other, acting like a woman- wait, you were being a guy and then acting like a girl.” (228) Men cannot seem to meld the roles of mother and lawyer, they do not see it possible, especially men lawyers who have wives and children because there wife does not work.
When it comes to men lawyers are parenthood though, it is looked greatly upon. According to English, “By contrast, the role of fatherhood has always meshed neatly with the image of the driven career man. If conventional wisdom says that motherhood is a minus for working women, fatherhood is a plus. It enhances men’s stature without tarnishing their legitimacy in the workplace.” (238)
The traditional values of motherhood impact women lawyers because they do not have the choice to leave work and be with their children because they are looked down upon. When their child is sick or needs to be picked up from school, the women cannot always just pick up and leave because they have a job to get done and it effects them deeply.
When high-powered female lawyers have children, they are viewed as suspect parents because to other people, they do not approach motherhood the way mothers should. They are not nurturing, loving mothers because they cannot be because of the demands of their jobs.
When it comes to men lawyers are parenthood though, it is looked greatly upon. According to English, “By contrast, the role of fatherhood has always meshed neatly with the image of the driven career man. If conventional wisdom says that motherhood is a minus for working women, fatherhood is a plus. It enhances men’s stature without tarnishing their legitimacy in the workplace.” (238)
The traditional values of motherhood impact women lawyers because they do not have the choice to leave work and be with their children because they are looked down upon. When their child is sick or needs to be picked up from school, the women cannot always just pick up and leave because they have a job to get done and it effects them deeply.
When high-powered female lawyers have children, they are viewed as suspect parents because to other people, they do not approach motherhood the way mothers should. They are not nurturing, loving mothers because they cannot be because of the demands of their jobs.
31
As with many jobs, there is a huge problem with balancing work/family in the legal profession, but it seems to be an even bigger issue in the legal profession. This is a huge issue for working mothers. When you are in the legal field, it is very time consuming, therefore leaving little time for people to spend with their families. It is a huge issue for women and men, but more so women because of motherhood. You have sick children, ballet recitals, soccer practices and many other childhood experiences that parents do not want to miss out on, so why should parents miss out on them simply because they are a part of the legal profession. These people also have child care to worry about and the time they need to pick their children up by and who can watch them and how much it is going to cost.
Solutions that were proposed for this issue were flexible work schedules, reduced hours, telecommuting, job shares and so on and so forth, but these never seemed to work out. Lawyers that took on these alternatives and were “part-time” employees were looked down upon because they were part-time and so it seemed as if they could not have as much responbility because they could not take it. they are treated differently by the full-time attorneys because they are seen as not good enough. In English’s book it states, “The “real lawyers” staunchly resist changes to the proven success formula, charging that alternative schedules are inequitable and that part-timers lack commitment. These tensions make the part-timers feel resentful for the lack of respect they get from their colleagues, but also guilty about “slacking off” on the job.” (195)
This discuss affects me personally a lot because I want to become a lawyer, I have wanted to become one since I was in high school. I constantly think about the situation I am going to be put in when I want to have a family and I know I really want to have a family, so this is something that honestly keeps me thinking about whether I want to become a lawyer or not because I am not sure if I am going to be able to balance the two and get recognition for what I do in both areas.
Solutions that were proposed for this issue were flexible work schedules, reduced hours, telecommuting, job shares and so on and so forth, but these never seemed to work out. Lawyers that took on these alternatives and were “part-time” employees were looked down upon because they were part-time and so it seemed as if they could not have as much responbility because they could not take it. they are treated differently by the full-time attorneys because they are seen as not good enough. In English’s book it states, “The “real lawyers” staunchly resist changes to the proven success formula, charging that alternative schedules are inequitable and that part-timers lack commitment. These tensions make the part-timers feel resentful for the lack of respect they get from their colleagues, but also guilty about “slacking off” on the job.” (195)
This discuss affects me personally a lot because I want to become a lawyer, I have wanted to become one since I was in high school. I constantly think about the situation I am going to be put in when I want to have a family and I know I really want to have a family, so this is something that honestly keeps me thinking about whether I want to become a lawyer or not because I am not sure if I am going to be able to balance the two and get recognition for what I do in both areas.
30
1)
When it comes to conventional views about leadership styles disadvantaging women and advantaging men, men are expected to lead in an aggressive way, so when people think about leadership, they think about aggressiveness and women are not suppose to be aggressive, they are suppose to be nurturing. Also, leadership requires people to relate effectively with opposing counsel and clients and this can be a tough area for women because a majority of the time, opposing counsel and clients and male and therefore the women are looked down upon because men do not want to be controlled by women; they do not want a woman as their leader. Leaders are expected to have the masculinity about them because leaders need to me aggressive, decisive, hierarchical, autonomous, directive and cool.
2)
From the book, English states, “And research suggests that managers draw their style more from the gender composition of those they lead; that is, they tend to act masculine and task-oriented in male-dominated environments and supportive and people-oriented in female-dominated environments.” “In actuality, most of the women I interviewed said that at some point they had made some adjustment in their ordinary manner or personality because of gender expectations. They tended to accept the dictum that women can’t be too aggressive or too passive, and created detailed methods for walking that fine line. These women assumed that they can’t just be themselves, and that they must sculpt an acceptable work persona that doesn’t offend entrenched norms.” (117) To have to act like a male in order to feel like you deserve leadership is ridiculous. In certain places women are picked to become leaders because they possess different qualities then all the other men that have led before her and they should take that into consideration. Leadership is not a male quality, it is a quality everyone can have.
3)
These expectations relate to stereotypes because people think leadership is a male thing. People stereotype leaders as aggressive males. Women are not seen to have the qualities of a leader simply because the qualities consist of being a male. In the first video that say the we see women in so many prominent places, that we miss the places that they are missing and we forget to even look in certain places because the stereotypes that have been put on them.
4)
Positive outcomes of female leadership would be a different outlook on things. Whenever people discuss women and leadership, they discuss the glass ceiling. In the second video, the woman says that women have not broken the glass ceiling, it has been cracked, but not broken and the progress on breaking it has stalled. Women have pushed themselves to get places and they have taken the extra step to get all the extra qualifications under their belts like experience and higher education; they have done their share to prepare, but they are not getting anything out of it. Businesses are not giving them the opportunity to use it, so they say in the second video that there is all this talent that is not being used. Women bring a different experience and different skills to management. Women have a unique way of thinking to them that men just do not have. They also bring a different agenda to the table. In the second video they discuss that women bring different issues to the table, they bring up minimum wage and early childhood development; they bring new talent to the table. Women also bring different creativity to the table.
Negative qualities that females bring to the table would be typical female behaviors that bring problems to any situations such as moodiness and things like that. Some females are very stubborn and set on their own ways, but males are like that as well. Males can bring the same negative qualities to the table as well, but that is why, in the second video, they makes it a point to say that shared leadership between female and males is a very good thing. You do not need just one or the other, you can have both, but in order for that to happen, we need more females.
5)
I prefer shared leadership between males and females because I believe that both genders bring very different and unique things to the table. Women have certain qualities to them than men do and when you bring the two together, I think it brings out the best in both.
When it comes to conventional views about leadership styles disadvantaging women and advantaging men, men are expected to lead in an aggressive way, so when people think about leadership, they think about aggressiveness and women are not suppose to be aggressive, they are suppose to be nurturing. Also, leadership requires people to relate effectively with opposing counsel and clients and this can be a tough area for women because a majority of the time, opposing counsel and clients and male and therefore the women are looked down upon because men do not want to be controlled by women; they do not want a woman as their leader. Leaders are expected to have the masculinity about them because leaders need to me aggressive, decisive, hierarchical, autonomous, directive and cool.
2)
From the book, English states, “And research suggests that managers draw their style more from the gender composition of those they lead; that is, they tend to act masculine and task-oriented in male-dominated environments and supportive and people-oriented in female-dominated environments.” “In actuality, most of the women I interviewed said that at some point they had made some adjustment in their ordinary manner or personality because of gender expectations. They tended to accept the dictum that women can’t be too aggressive or too passive, and created detailed methods for walking that fine line. These women assumed that they can’t just be themselves, and that they must sculpt an acceptable work persona that doesn’t offend entrenched norms.” (117) To have to act like a male in order to feel like you deserve leadership is ridiculous. In certain places women are picked to become leaders because they possess different qualities then all the other men that have led before her and they should take that into consideration. Leadership is not a male quality, it is a quality everyone can have.
3)
These expectations relate to stereotypes because people think leadership is a male thing. People stereotype leaders as aggressive males. Women are not seen to have the qualities of a leader simply because the qualities consist of being a male. In the first video that say the we see women in so many prominent places, that we miss the places that they are missing and we forget to even look in certain places because the stereotypes that have been put on them.
4)
Positive outcomes of female leadership would be a different outlook on things. Whenever people discuss women and leadership, they discuss the glass ceiling. In the second video, the woman says that women have not broken the glass ceiling, it has been cracked, but not broken and the progress on breaking it has stalled. Women have pushed themselves to get places and they have taken the extra step to get all the extra qualifications under their belts like experience and higher education; they have done their share to prepare, but they are not getting anything out of it. Businesses are not giving them the opportunity to use it, so they say in the second video that there is all this talent that is not being used. Women bring a different experience and different skills to management. Women have a unique way of thinking to them that men just do not have. They also bring a different agenda to the table. In the second video they discuss that women bring different issues to the table, they bring up minimum wage and early childhood development; they bring new talent to the table. Women also bring different creativity to the table.
Negative qualities that females bring to the table would be typical female behaviors that bring problems to any situations such as moodiness and things like that. Some females are very stubborn and set on their own ways, but males are like that as well. Males can bring the same negative qualities to the table as well, but that is why, in the second video, they makes it a point to say that shared leadership between female and males is a very good thing. You do not need just one or the other, you can have both, but in order for that to happen, we need more females.
5)
I prefer shared leadership between males and females because I believe that both genders bring very different and unique things to the table. Women have certain qualities to them than men do and when you bring the two together, I think it brings out the best in both.
29
After reading the article by the NPR news, it seems as if a few of the reasons why so few minority women stay with law firms are because of exclusion, neglect and overt harassment. Other things include racist stereotypes, set to different standards, and ‘token’ stature at a firm. From the article, an Asian attorney states, “I had a managing partner call me into his office when I was a fourth-year [associate]. He introduced me to the client who was Korean and he tells him that I’m Koran, too. He says, ‘She eats kim chee, just like you.’ He said to me, ‘Talk to him.’ I looked at the client and said, ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m sure you speak English better than I speak Korean.’ The client’s face was so red. Then the partner left a message on my internal message systems, and he was speaking gibberish, trying to sound like an Asian speaker. I called every partner on my floor and said, “You need to come and listen to his.’ I played that message 10 times. Ten times.” After I read this article, I was appalled. I cannot believe that people would really say these things in front of other people.
In the readings, reasons for minority women to leave the firm were kind of the same as the articles, but varied a little. One of the reasons they left was because of “battered woman syndrome” which was when the male attorney would talk the woman attorney up to everyone and then use them during the weekends and time you were suppose to have off. He would abuse people in the beginning, but give them good feedback in the end which led you to keep doing what you were doing. Another thing was that they would call them into meetings and conference calls where they had no purpose and just make them sit there. The things that seemed to keep minority women from staying in law firms in the book seemed to apply to all women and not just minority women, but either way, they are all pretty horrible things. The similarities seemed to be that no matter what the situation was, women were be degraded by the men and it was even happening in front of the clients.
In the readings, reasons for minority women to leave the firm were kind of the same as the articles, but varied a little. One of the reasons they left was because of “battered woman syndrome” which was when the male attorney would talk the woman attorney up to everyone and then use them during the weekends and time you were suppose to have off. He would abuse people in the beginning, but give them good feedback in the end which led you to keep doing what you were doing. Another thing was that they would call them into meetings and conference calls where they had no purpose and just make them sit there. The things that seemed to keep minority women from staying in law firms in the book seemed to apply to all women and not just minority women, but either way, they are all pretty horrible things. The similarities seemed to be that no matter what the situation was, women were be degraded by the men and it was even happening in front of the clients.
28
Sonia Sotomayor’s behavior was characterized as different then a man in many different ways. She was also characterized as being a minority and not being able to perform as well as white people. According to Jamison Foser and his article, “Where does Sonia Sotomayor go to get her reputation back?”, “Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor has been the subject of the harshest criticism.” She was criticized as not being smart enough and having a temperament. It was also said that she was kind of a bully on the bench. It was also said that she has a reputation for not being a hard worker, but if that were the case, then how did she get to the position she is in now?
Many of these traits that people are pointing out about Sotomayor are traits that if held by men would be acceptable. People are treating her very unfairly one because she is a female and two because she is a minority. In Foser’s article, he states, “As Hutchinson [American University law professor Darren Hutchinson] explains, the descriptions of Sotomayer as too temperamental are quite consistent with a clear double-standard in how men and women are portrayed in the media: A persistent and ubiquitous gender stereotype portrays smart and aggressive women as domineering, mean, nasty bitches. This stereotype explains much of the negative treatment that Hillary Clinton received during her presidential campaign. […] For Sotomayer, being a sharp interrogator and requiring lawyers to be “on top of it” are negative qualities. These traits are not negative in most men, certainly not white men.” The competency between a man and a woman greatly differs in American society and it only differs because people do not think that women can handle what men can handle and it is sad. When compared, Sonia Sotomayor has the same traits as almost all the men in the Supreme Justice Court, the only thing different about her is that she is female, so her traits are looked down upon.
Many of these traits that people are pointing out about Sotomayor are traits that if held by men would be acceptable. People are treating her very unfairly one because she is a female and two because she is a minority. In Foser’s article, he states, “As Hutchinson [American University law professor Darren Hutchinson] explains, the descriptions of Sotomayer as too temperamental are quite consistent with a clear double-standard in how men and women are portrayed in the media: A persistent and ubiquitous gender stereotype portrays smart and aggressive women as domineering, mean, nasty bitches. This stereotype explains much of the negative treatment that Hillary Clinton received during her presidential campaign. […] For Sotomayer, being a sharp interrogator and requiring lawyers to be “on top of it” are negative qualities. These traits are not negative in most men, certainly not white men.” The competency between a man and a woman greatly differs in American society and it only differs because people do not think that women can handle what men can handle and it is sad. When compared, Sonia Sotomayor has the same traits as almost all the men in the Supreme Justice Court, the only thing different about her is that she is female, so her traits are looked down upon.
27
The competency gap that remains between men and women lawyers still exists to most people. Women believe that they have to work much harder than men to get their foot in the door and prove themselves. “An American Bar Association poll taken in 1983 revealed that 38% of women lawyers said they believed they had to work harder to prove themselves. By 2000, that figure had zoomed to 60%. A survey conducted in 2002 by the New York State Bar Association showed similar figures. Forty-four percent of the women overall agreed with the perception that “female layers have to work harder than male lawyers to get the same results.” For private firms and in-house women, the numbers were higher still: 50% and 57% respectively. Although the figures for public interest lawyers (34% of those females said they had to work harder) and for the judiciary (39% of the female judges concurred) were lower, they were still significant.” (77)
Consequences that women experience as a result of the legal profession remaining male dominant are you have a negativity about you for being a women, you are looked at as odd, they don’t face female opposing counsel, women are associated with unsuccessful performance, women are assumed to lack power and therefore are not taken seriously, and they get less respect and are seen as less threatening, and less important. One more thing is that women are more likely to get administrative or housekeeping tasks.
Strategies that male lawyers engage in an attempt to win a case against a woman lawyer are bullying and intimidation. “A male trial associate reports that, although he tests everyone in the litigation arena to try to unnerve them, he has a working assumption that women are easier to bully and that he can knock them off their stride more easily than a man. For instance, if he has information about a woman’s child care responsibilities, he will try to push depositions and their timing to the last minute, knowing that it creates a time crisis for women.” (84)
Consequences that women experience as a result of the legal profession remaining male dominant are you have a negativity about you for being a women, you are looked at as odd, they don’t face female opposing counsel, women are associated with unsuccessful performance, women are assumed to lack power and therefore are not taken seriously, and they get less respect and are seen as less threatening, and less important. One more thing is that women are more likely to get administrative or housekeeping tasks.
Strategies that male lawyers engage in an attempt to win a case against a woman lawyer are bullying and intimidation. “A male trial associate reports that, although he tests everyone in the litigation arena to try to unnerve them, he has a working assumption that women are easier to bully and that he can knock them off their stride more easily than a man. For instance, if he has information about a woman’s child care responsibilities, he will try to push depositions and their timing to the last minute, knowing that it creates a time crisis for women.” (84)
26
The role that males play in assisting women lawyers is basically women need the male attorneys to deliver messages to different people because of many reasons, but most of the time it is simply because they are females. English says, “Women sometimes find that they need male colleagues to step in to grapple with unruly opposing counsel, or endorse their advice to clients to get them on board. A powerful female partner in Washington, D.C. reports: Sometimes clients don’t listen to anybody, or they won’t listen to me. Sometimes I’ll draft a guy to say the same thing I did. If it’s a $150 million case and I’m not sure this person’s listening, I’ll go get someone else, I’ll get some reinforcement. It could be gender, it could just be brain damage. It doesn’t always do the trick. It is better to have somebody male to reinforce it. And I do it, because I don’t want anyone to say the advice wasn’t taken because I didn’t do this. I do risk management. People are no gender neutral in society, and if you can get two people to say it, who cares? When we have to deliver a message, sometimes that’s based on gender.” (86)
Another reason women turn to men to assist them is for validation; a lot of time clients want a male to validate what the female just said to them. Women also turn to males to assist them when they are stuck in sticky situations with other male colleagues. This role of men being the ones that women turn to in order to deliver messages and talk to clients so they will listen and things like that points to the law as a gendered organization because, “This reveals the tension between a world that is not “gender neutral” and a workplace that aspires to be. Although these anecdotes make clear that sometimes skeptical clients or bullying opposing counsel require that women utilize male backing, and that women believe this is the right thing to do for the client or case, the pivotal question is whether this dynamic lowers a women’s status in the eyes of her colleagues, who may hesitate to refer cases to her, advance her to partner, or work with her on important matters.” (88)
Another reason women turn to men to assist them is for validation; a lot of time clients want a male to validate what the female just said to them. Women also turn to males to assist them when they are stuck in sticky situations with other male colleagues. This role of men being the ones that women turn to in order to deliver messages and talk to clients so they will listen and things like that points to the law as a gendered organization because, “This reveals the tension between a world that is not “gender neutral” and a workplace that aspires to be. Although these anecdotes make clear that sometimes skeptical clients or bullying opposing counsel require that women utilize male backing, and that women believe this is the right thing to do for the client or case, the pivotal question is whether this dynamic lowers a women’s status in the eyes of her colleagues, who may hesitate to refer cases to her, advance her to partner, or work with her on important matters.” (88)
25
Pros and cons of using sexualized behavior as “a weapon in the arsenal”. In “Gender on Trial”, Holly English states, “Along with legal protection to fend off advances, the other side of the coin is that females are allowed more space to decide affirmatively how they want to assert their sexuality, if at all. For instance, some women use flirting or charm to facilitate relationships with colleagues and clients and to advance their careers. A male in-house lawyer describes how his female boss interacted with a company client: The man was obviously smitten by our boss, who’s an attractive woman. Instead of failing to use all her weapons in her arsenal, she leaned in close to listen to him, touched him on the arm, went on a major charm offensive. It was an effort to close a deal. She has the credibility-academically and professionally- to overcome stereotypes.”
Women know the power they have over men and they know they can use themselves to get closer to men and to get what they want in certain situations. Pros to that is just being able to get your way and being able to get out of situations you do not want to be in and being able to get into situations they do want to be in. Another pro that comes out of this is confidence and success.
Some people think some cons that come out of this are sliding down a slippery slope. “It de-legitimizes a woman by reawakening the stereotype that a woman’s mere presence is overwhelmingly sexual rather that professional.” says English. Some women believe that there is a time and placing for flirting in the office and sometimes it is completely inappropriate; they say it all depends how the man acts on it. If he starts it then you can continue it, but if not then don’t do it. You see sexualized behavior used as a “weapon in arsenal” all over television as well and it is shown as a good thing and something that women should do because it gets them places, especially in the movie Erin Brokovich.
Women know the power they have over men and they know they can use themselves to get closer to men and to get what they want in certain situations. Pros to that is just being able to get your way and being able to get out of situations you do not want to be in and being able to get into situations they do want to be in. Another pro that comes out of this is confidence and success.
Some people think some cons that come out of this are sliding down a slippery slope. “It de-legitimizes a woman by reawakening the stereotype that a woman’s mere presence is overwhelmingly sexual rather that professional.” says English. Some women believe that there is a time and placing for flirting in the office and sometimes it is completely inappropriate; they say it all depends how the man acts on it. If he starts it then you can continue it, but if not then don’t do it. You see sexualized behavior used as a “weapon in arsenal” all over television as well and it is shown as a good thing and something that women should do because it gets them places, especially in the movie Erin Brokovich.
24
The person I informally interviewed in regards to the gender expectations and stereotypes was a current female law student, Sam, who is a Latino and is a part of many different organizations at the law school she attends, one of those organizations being for minorities. When it came to joining that group though she says that she felt very obligated to join it because she was a Latino, she felt pressure from many different people in her life, especially her family and teachers at school. Although she does enjoy the organization and she has become the secretary, as of now she wishes she would not have done it because it is so time consuming, especially since she has a job as well.
When it comes to gender expectations and stereotypes in the law field, women are not expected to be as good you could say. They are not set as high of expectations, they are not given as many important jobs says Sam. She has been to a few law firms to observe this and she works at a firm as well. She says there are many more male partners in the firms she has visited and the women do not seem as proactive. The males seem to be running the show. Another thing Sam noticed in the law firms were the male lawyer’s expectations for the female lawyers to make the phone calls and do the run around for them. At law school, Sam says there are many more male teachers as well and they are more open to men then they are to female students. The women at the law schools are also expected to join more groups and be more sociable in class and out of the class. They are expected to me more nurturing when they go outside of school and participate in extracurricular activities and they are also expected to organize these extracurricular activities.
When it comes to gender expectations and stereotypes in the law field, women are not expected to be as good you could say. They are not set as high of expectations, they are not given as many important jobs says Sam. She has been to a few law firms to observe this and she works at a firm as well. She says there are many more male partners in the firms she has visited and the women do not seem as proactive. The males seem to be running the show. Another thing Sam noticed in the law firms were the male lawyer’s expectations for the female lawyers to make the phone calls and do the run around for them. At law school, Sam says there are many more male teachers as well and they are more open to men then they are to female students. The women at the law schools are also expected to join more groups and be more sociable in class and out of the class. They are expected to me more nurturing when they go outside of school and participate in extracurricular activities and they are also expected to organize these extracurricular activities.
23
Working in a law firm and being a woman, I pay really close attention to fashion in the firm and in the court house when we make our occasional visits and the fashion between the firm and the court house is very different. When I joined the firm, there was no specific dress code given to me, just a dress code about casual Fridays and how we cannot wear holy jeans and leggings and things like that, but nothing about everyday business wear. I knew though from observation what I could wear and could not wear and what was appropriate and what was not appropriate. In our firm, we can wear a lot of different things, just as long as there is not too much exposure, but when going to the court house it is very conservative and that is very understandable. All the men in the courthouse wear pantsuits and women wear some kind of suits. Almost everybody in our firm dresses appropriately, but there has been multiple occasions where some of the female lawyers are wearing really short dresses or they are just dressed really sloppy, especially one lawyer in general. I think it is good for there to be a variety of options of clothes for women to wear, but I think bottoms should almost go to the knees, cleavage should be minimized and no spaghetti straps or tube tops.
I think that lawyers should be known for their cutting-edge fashion sense. Women lawyers our very important people in our society and I think they deserve to have a fashion sense as well. I know I take bold moves and wear fashionable things to work and I get complimented on them. They aren’t scandalous or anything, they just aren’t your typical boring outfits you normally see people in a law firm wearing. In the article, “The Fashion Law of Politics: Obama-Style”, I loved how they brought Michelle Obama’s daring fashion sense. I love how she has taken a stance and stepped out of the traditional fashion sense of the first ladies.
I think that lawyers should be known for their cutting-edge fashion sense. Women lawyers our very important people in our society and I think they deserve to have a fashion sense as well. I know I take bold moves and wear fashionable things to work and I get complimented on them. They aren’t scandalous or anything, they just aren’t your typical boring outfits you normally see people in a law firm wearing. In the article, “The Fashion Law of Politics: Obama-Style”, I loved how they brought Michelle Obama’s daring fashion sense. I love how she has taken a stance and stepped out of the traditional fashion sense of the first ladies.
Blog # 22
Sonia Sotomayor is only the first Hispanic justice and the third female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was born in Puerto Rico and raised by her mother and these are all things people paid close attention to when evaluating Sonia Sotomayor’s qualifications in becoming the Supreme Court of the United States.
When it comes to the qualifications people look at when it comes to picking the Supreme Court of the United States, gender and race are qualifications that are closely looked at. You can easily see that when looking at the number of Hispanic and females who have been on the Supreme Court of the United States. Because Sonia Sotomayor is Hispanic and a woman, when she was first being considered for Supreme Court Justice, people automatically assumed that she was a liberal.
After researching different articles on the internet I came to find some really disturbing things. One of the first articles I came across was titled, “Sotomayor: Passive Human Pinata for Mexican Obama and GOP” and it showed a cartoon of Sotomayor being hung like a piñata and Obama hold a bat saying, “Now, who wants to be first?”. According the article, which was written by Megan La Mamita Mala, states that, “The above is an editorial cartoon circulated by Creators’ Syndicate that appeared in The Oklahoman’s Tuesday editions. It depicts President Obama’s Supreme Court Justice Nominee, Sonia Sotomayer, as passive, docile human piñata, hanging from a tree while a cartoon Obama in a Mexican sombrero invited GOP elephants to take a hit. This cartoon was very, very racist and sexist. It was very degrading to Sotomayor’s and it hurt a lot of people. Even some of the GOP members asked for an apology. There were many other articles out there, including other articles by Mala, but this one really got my attention.
When it comes to the qualifications people look at when it comes to picking the Supreme Court of the United States, gender and race are qualifications that are closely looked at. You can easily see that when looking at the number of Hispanic and females who have been on the Supreme Court of the United States. Because Sonia Sotomayor is Hispanic and a woman, when she was first being considered for Supreme Court Justice, people automatically assumed that she was a liberal.
After researching different articles on the internet I came to find some really disturbing things. One of the first articles I came across was titled, “Sotomayor: Passive Human Pinata for Mexican Obama and GOP” and it showed a cartoon of Sotomayor being hung like a piñata and Obama hold a bat saying, “Now, who wants to be first?”. According the article, which was written by Megan La Mamita Mala, states that, “The above is an editorial cartoon circulated by Creators’ Syndicate that appeared in The Oklahoman’s Tuesday editions. It depicts President Obama’s Supreme Court Justice Nominee, Sonia Sotomayer, as passive, docile human piñata, hanging from a tree while a cartoon Obama in a Mexican sombrero invited GOP elephants to take a hit. This cartoon was very, very racist and sexist. It was very degrading to Sotomayor’s and it hurt a lot of people. Even some of the GOP members asked for an apology. There were many other articles out there, including other articles by Mala, but this one really got my attention.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Blog 21
Issues that the association, National Association of Female Correctional Officers ( NAFCO), has identified as significant to their members are working towards sexual assault and harassment of female officers, and to promote the development and use of cutting edge technology. They are also trying to secure the passage of federal legislation that would help stop female officers from being raped and sexually assaulted while on duty.
Britton suggests lots of changes in order to change the structure of these institutions, but the biggest one is to change the connection between gender and inequality. “If our goal is the creation of less oppressively gendered organizational environments (Britton 2000), then the most fruitful implications of this work are those that can help us to mitigate the effects of the connection between gender and inequality.” (Britton 225) It will not be an easy thing and it will take a long time, but people just have to be patient and I think eventually everybody will see drastic changes. “Encouraging more realistic portrayals of prison life, depictions that do not revolve around hyperviolent images of animalistic inmates and sadistic wardens and officers would be a first step towards changing the cultural construction of the prison and our preconceptions about the occupation. Any stories of women’s real lives in prison would also be welcome.” (Britton 225) I think the real stories of women’s lives are very important. If you give people a way to genuine way to connect with these women, a lot more people will be supportive.
Preparing officers for training in both men and women’s institutions, whether they are male or female, is also a very good situation. Some men officers do not know how to handle these women in these institutes and some women officers do not know how to handle the men in these men institutions. Being given a diverse training would help out a lot because it would make these officers more prepared.
Britton suggests lots of changes in order to change the structure of these institutions, but the biggest one is to change the connection between gender and inequality. “If our goal is the creation of less oppressively gendered organizational environments (Britton 2000), then the most fruitful implications of this work are those that can help us to mitigate the effects of the connection between gender and inequality.” (Britton 225) It will not be an easy thing and it will take a long time, but people just have to be patient and I think eventually everybody will see drastic changes. “Encouraging more realistic portrayals of prison life, depictions that do not revolve around hyperviolent images of animalistic inmates and sadistic wardens and officers would be a first step towards changing the cultural construction of the prison and our preconceptions about the occupation. Any stories of women’s real lives in prison would also be welcome.” (Britton 225) I think the real stories of women’s lives are very important. If you give people a way to genuine way to connect with these women, a lot more people will be supportive.
Preparing officers for training in both men and women’s institutions, whether they are male or female, is also a very good situation. Some men officers do not know how to handle these women in these institutes and some women officers do not know how to handle the men in these men institutions. Being given a diverse training would help out a lot because it would make these officers more prepared.
Blog 18
I definitely agree that the norm becomes masculine when institutions attempt to establish gender-neutral policies and practices. That happens in a lot of circumstances, but I can see where it is especially a problem in prisons. Honestly, when I think about prisons I think about men and that is it and in a way, since I am a woman, I think it is a complement. I can see how women actually in prison would not appreciate it, but once something is looked at a certain way, that way being masculine; it is hard to change that image. The way I look at it when setting policies you have to set them very high and you have to set them so that not one person is able to find a way around those policies so naturally you have to set them towards males because you have to make them indestructible to both genders and naturally it is going to be easier for men to find ways around policies if they are set to women’s standards than vice versa.
Many policies are practices are meant to be gender-neutral, but in the end it turns into gender inequality. For example, height and weight requirements, mandating promoted workers, and transfers. When it comes to being promoted, a lot of promotions occur somewhere else, like in another state and that makes it difficult for women to just pick up and leave because a lot of them have families. Same for just wanting to be promoted in general, a lot of women reject promotion because it takes more time away from their families. One white women said, “I love what I do, God, I’ve worked every profession that you could think of, but I love it. I love what I do. But it takes too much time away from my family. But if I was career-minded, I would definitely already have been trying to go up for rank.” (Britton 197)
Many policies are practices are meant to be gender-neutral, but in the end it turns into gender inequality. For example, height and weight requirements, mandating promoted workers, and transfers. When it comes to being promoted, a lot of promotions occur somewhere else, like in another state and that makes it difficult for women to just pick up and leave because a lot of them have families. Same for just wanting to be promoted in general, a lot of women reject promotion because it takes more time away from their families. One white women said, “I love what I do, God, I’ve worked every profession that you could think of, but I love it. I love what I do. But it takes too much time away from my family. But if I was career-minded, I would definitely already have been trying to go up for rank.” (Britton 197)
Blog 16
“Stereotypes abound about how one comes to be a correctional officer. By far the most common is the notion that those who seek out such employment do so because they posses authoritarian personalities and desire to indulge their taste for brutality.” (Britton 80) The stories are all different between men and women and the work experience is different as well. Different paths to prison work include the military, family in correctional work, law enforcement, degree/courses in criminology or criminal justice, administrative support, and technical sales, or service. The relationship between previous work experience and becoming a correctional officer is pretty significant with men, but not as significant with women. A lot of people say that they just drifted into this kind of work because of previous jobs and that is the case with most men. A lot of the men were police officers or something in the military before they became correctional officers, but that is not the case for a lot of women.
Social networks play a huge role in job opportunities and that goes for any job I think. It is all about knowing people and for correctional officers, social networks are gendered because a majority of them are men. The social network for correctional officers is mostly male because that occupation is male dominated, which makes it very hard for women to get in and even when they are in they are treated differently.
The two biggest motivations for becoming a correctional officer for both men and women is pay and benefits. From the readings it seems as if it is a good opportunity for people with no further education after high school. Another reason women take on a position like this is because of divorce. They need to double their income and they say this job makes the money for them.
Social networks play a huge role in job opportunities and that goes for any job I think. It is all about knowing people and for correctional officers, social networks are gendered because a majority of them are men. The social network for correctional officers is mostly male because that occupation is male dominated, which makes it very hard for women to get in and even when they are in they are treated differently.
The two biggest motivations for becoming a correctional officer for both men and women is pay and benefits. From the readings it seems as if it is a good opportunity for people with no further education after high school. Another reason women take on a position like this is because of divorce. They need to double their income and they say this job makes the money for them.
Blog 15
According to Judith Greene’s article, “Part I: Growth Trends and Recent Research”, “The imprisonment boom that began in the late 1970s has swelled the state and federal prison system to more than 1.4 million prisoners. Adding those held in local jails and other lockups (juvenile facilities, immigrant detention, etc.) the total number of people behind bars rises to almost 2.3 million – of which seven percent are women. At the end of 2004, 96,125 women were serving state or federal sentences – almost nine times the number in prison in 1977.” (Greene 1)
“As has been the case since the first prisons were built, women constitute a minority of America’s prison populations, currently accounting for 6.6 percent of the total, up from about 4 percent in 1925” (Britton 23) The number of women in prison has increased a lot faster than the number of men in prison because of how few women were in prison when men started being placed in prison. They did not start off at the same time, therefore leaving the number of women in prison to increase at a quicker pace than men.
When prisons were constructed they were not constructed with women in mind at all. Nothing about prisons were structured around women. “Neither the physical structures of these institutions nor their disciplinary regimes had been designed with women in mind, however. Administrators treated women either as afterthoughts or as annoyances. Reformers’ and legislatures’ mandate to separate the sexes in congregate institutions worked to disadvantage women, as wardens placed them in makeshift quarters away from the main (men’s) inmate population. (Britton 28) So, once you establish something a certain way and continue to perform those practices for awhile, it is hard to break away from them and start something new. That is why in institutions today, women are still treated like that in daily practices.
“As has been the case since the first prisons were built, women constitute a minority of America’s prison populations, currently accounting for 6.6 percent of the total, up from about 4 percent in 1925” (Britton 23) The number of women in prison has increased a lot faster than the number of men in prison because of how few women were in prison when men started being placed in prison. They did not start off at the same time, therefore leaving the number of women in prison to increase at a quicker pace than men.
When prisons were constructed they were not constructed with women in mind at all. Nothing about prisons were structured around women. “Neither the physical structures of these institutions nor their disciplinary regimes had been designed with women in mind, however. Administrators treated women either as afterthoughts or as annoyances. Reformers’ and legislatures’ mandate to separate the sexes in congregate institutions worked to disadvantage women, as wardens placed them in makeshift quarters away from the main (men’s) inmate population. (Britton 28) So, once you establish something a certain way and continue to perform those practices for awhile, it is hard to break away from them and start something new. That is why in institutions today, women are still treated like that in daily practices.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Blog 14
The theory of gendered organizations is a product of three factors: the structures of work organizations, the cultural and ideological assumptions upon which they draw and which in turn shape them, and the agency of workers themselves. When you have all three factors, the approach to gendered organizations is grounded in two key assumptions. “First, organizations must be viewed from within the context of an unequal society, one in which gender domination exists and is reproduced on an ongoing basis. Gender is not something imported into organizations with workers; it is an inseparable part of organizational structure. (Acker 1990, 1992; Williams 1995; see also Smith 1979). Second, in line with the interactionist tradition in the sociology of gender (Kessler and McKenna 1978; West and Zimmerman 1987; West and Fenstermaker 1995), I conceptualize gender as a process, the product of a social construction that can be carried out both at the micro level (by the individual actor) and at the macro level (by social institutions, policies, and practices) (Acker 1990, 1992; Britton 1997a, 2000; Pierce 1995; Williams 1995).” (Britton 6)
In Dana M. Brittohen’s book, she discusses gendered organizations linked with organizational structure. She discusses occupations being gendered through organizational structures, through agency and through culture. With organizational structure, “organizations build on and reproduce a division of labor between the public and private spheres, between production and reproduction (Acker 1992).” (Britton 7) Many jobs respect the private job because it is focused on work and it highly benefits men. Occupational segregation being gendered through agency “includes all the interactions in which workers are involved that, intentionally or not, invoke gender or reproduce gender inequality, as well as processes of identity construction through which individuals come to see themselves as “appropriately” gendered through their work.” (Britton 15) Gendering through culture focuses on “the “construction of images, symbols, and ideologies that justify, explain, and give legitimacy” (Acker 1992: 568) to institutions, organizations, and occupations.”
When Britton says that “organizations are gendered at the level of structure” (Britton 7) I believe that she means that all organizations are gender based and they gender base by a specific structure. It would of course be sexual discrimination to have a gendered organization, but when organizations have structures at which they do they do things, like gendering, they find ways to get around being accounted for sexual discrimination.
In Dana M. Brittohen’s book, she discusses gendered organizations linked with organizational structure. She discusses occupations being gendered through organizational structures, through agency and through culture. With organizational structure, “organizations build on and reproduce a division of labor between the public and private spheres, between production and reproduction (Acker 1992).” (Britton 7) Many jobs respect the private job because it is focused on work and it highly benefits men. Occupational segregation being gendered through agency “includes all the interactions in which workers are involved that, intentionally or not, invoke gender or reproduce gender inequality, as well as processes of identity construction through which individuals come to see themselves as “appropriately” gendered through their work.” (Britton 15) Gendering through culture focuses on “the “construction of images, symbols, and ideologies that justify, explain, and give legitimacy” (Acker 1992: 568) to institutions, organizations, and occupations.”
When Britton says that “organizations are gendered at the level of structure” (Britton 7) I believe that she means that all organizations are gender based and they gender base by a specific structure. It would of course be sexual discrimination to have a gendered organization, but when organizations have structures at which they do they do things, like gendering, they find ways to get around being accounted for sexual discrimination.
Blog 13
I think Britton names the image of a prison guard/correctional officer perfectly. “the vision in your mind’s eye is probably that of a hulking man in uniform carrying a nightstick or even a gun.” (Britton 1) Now, I would probably go a little farther and say a huge man, very muscular, tall and intimidating. I would also see the prison guard/correctional officer carrying a big gun, dressed in intimidating clothes as well and high black army looking boots. The only reason I have this image is because of the media. I have never actually seen a prison guard/correctional officer in my life, but almost every single media clip I have seen of a prison guard/correctional officer, that is what they look like. Never in a million years would an image of a woman come to mind when I thought of a prison guard/correctional officer and if it did by chance then she would probably look like a man.
When women are in non-traditional jobs, they are not represented well at all, they are definitely the minority. They have to put up with a lot of crap and they are treated unfairly. More specifically with policing-type jobs, they are treated like a man and they are expected to do everything a man would be able to do or else they are called out. Either that or they are babied because men in the policing-type jobs do not think they can do the same job as them. When publicized in the media, policing-type jobs are represented in the same way, they are always men.
Almost all images in popularized media referring to these types of jobs are images of men, but on that rare occasion that there might be a woman, the woman looks very manly. I have never seen a recruitment or promotional film for a job of this sort, but I would assume that the people in them are all men as well.
When women are in non-traditional jobs, they are not represented well at all, they are definitely the minority. They have to put up with a lot of crap and they are treated unfairly. More specifically with policing-type jobs, they are treated like a man and they are expected to do everything a man would be able to do or else they are called out. Either that or they are babied because men in the policing-type jobs do not think they can do the same job as them. When publicized in the media, policing-type jobs are represented in the same way, they are always men.
Almost all images in popularized media referring to these types of jobs are images of men, but on that rare occasion that there might be a woman, the woman looks very manly. I have never seen a recruitment or promotional film for a job of this sort, but I would assume that the people in them are all men as well.
Blog 12
Occupational segregation is basically the wage difference between men and women. “Though women make up to 47 percent of those working in the paid labor force, those who work full-time, year-round, make only 73 percent of the salaries of their male peers. Much of this difference is due to occupational segregation, that is, men and women are in different jobs, and the jobs women hold pay less, on average, that those that men occupy.” (Britton 5) Even when women are in the same exact occupation as men, they still tend to get paid less.
This type of discrimination exists even though we have laws against sexual discrimination because people find loop holes and simply because some people to follow the rules and others do not enforce them. “The reason is that administrators were left with a loophole, the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exemption. Under this rule, an employer who can show that a particular job cannot be performed by a member of one sex may legally discriminate in hiring.” (Britton 10)
Gender socialization relates to the formation of occupational segregation because naturally in almost any situation, men will stick with men and women will stick with women, which is segregation right there. This happens a lot when it comes to occupations especially because it is usually unfamiliar territory and when you are unfamiliar with something, you normally stick to your own kind, or what you know. Men will socialize more with men and women with women, especially in a working environment and I think a lot of this might have to do with the fact that men do not want to get accused of hitting on a certain woman if he is hanging out with her at work or talking to her too much and same for women. Also, when a woman comes into a male domination work place, the men are most likely not going to be very welcoming because they probably feel as if the woman or women are trying to take over their territory, but little do they know that woman is probably doing the same thing as them, but not making as much money.
This type of discrimination exists even though we have laws against sexual discrimination because people find loop holes and simply because some people to follow the rules and others do not enforce them. “The reason is that administrators were left with a loophole, the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) exemption. Under this rule, an employer who can show that a particular job cannot be performed by a member of one sex may legally discriminate in hiring.” (Britton 10)
Gender socialization relates to the formation of occupational segregation because naturally in almost any situation, men will stick with men and women will stick with women, which is segregation right there. This happens a lot when it comes to occupations especially because it is usually unfamiliar territory and when you are unfamiliar with something, you normally stick to your own kind, or what you know. Men will socialize more with men and women with women, especially in a working environment and I think a lot of this might have to do with the fact that men do not want to get accused of hitting on a certain woman if he is hanging out with her at work or talking to her too much and same for women. Also, when a woman comes into a male domination work place, the men are most likely not going to be very welcoming because they probably feel as if the woman or women are trying to take over their territory, but little do they know that woman is probably doing the same thing as them, but not making as much money.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Blog #11
A film where you see poor working women is North Country with Charlize Theron. Charlize Theron’s character, Josey, goes to work for a mine. The movie is mainly about sexual discrimination, but the main character is a poor working woman. She leaves her abusive husband and goes into life poverty. She lives with her parents at first, but eventually makes it into a broken down old house that she tries to fix up and make a home for her children. She works really hard, but she can never seem to make it over that hump out of poverty. She is constantly being harassed at work, but she realizes that having any job, no matter how bad it is, is better than no job. She struggles to balance a life between her children and her work. She also struggles with having to buy her children presents for special occasions. She always wants to give them more and do better for them, but you can tell that she is doing the best that she can. Eating out at a restaurant is a big privilege to her and the children and they only do it occasionally. I remember one part where she gets the kids a trampoline for Christmas I believe, but you can tell it took a lot out of her to get it for them. Josey also gets called all these names that a majority of women under Josey’s circumstances probably would not get called unless they were poor working women. She is called white trash and then she is also called a skank and a slut and all the other horrid names women get called simply because the guys at work do not like her. These guys at work see that she needs this job and she is going to do whatever it takes to keep it, so they take advantage of her.
Blog #10
Adaptive survival strategies that women in Chaundry’s study used after the welfare reform constantly changed as the women changed their care preferences and strategies. Mothers also changed their survival strategies “according to changing circumstances, adjusting to changes in their work course to make their care correspond and vice versa. Mothers adapted their changing strategies to the changing context of welfare that emphasized work.” (Chaundry 179) All the mothers that were worked with in this study, saw work and care as strategically interrelated. While some arranged their child care arrangements to coincide with their work schedules, some mothers made it a point to make their work schedules coincide with their child care schedule. A lot of mothers had trouble trying to decide what to put first, child care or work. Some mothers started with putting work before child care, but ended up putting child care before work. Cassandra was a good example of this. Cassandra worked as a nurse at a hospital and tried to make her shifts at work fit her childcare schedule, but in the end she adjusted it so her child care schedule fit her work schedule. Another strategy that a lot of women follow is having their priorities change once the children start to get older. With young children, a lot of mothers worked less, or they would stop working completely because they could not find a balance between the two or they could simply not find childcare. As children get older though, these mothers realize that they can start putting work first and their schedules are much more flexible. Mothers in the sample spent a lot of time and energy developing strategies that would help them balance work and childcare schedules. a lot of these mothers had multiple care arrangements and it can become very exhausting. Ramona was a good example of this, she cycled through several work and training experiences and seemed to develop an expertise in moving between strategies combing care and work and the advice she gives to other mothers is this, “A mother can make more if she works full-time, but then she has to find two, three, four places to leave her kids, and some of these are with strangers. I think it’s better to work part-time, even two part-time jobs, or find work at home.” (Chaundry 181) A few other strategies mothers used were accepting that they were going to work for most of their children’s early development and finding different ways to cope with it and many mothers used very low-cost care.
How these strategies pointed to interrelations between work and care were all over the place. You can’t work without care and you cannot give your child care without working to pay for it. The struggle of finding a balancing schedule between the two seemed to be the biggest problem for mothers and then of course is the problem of finding good enough quality of care for the amount of money that these mothers could afford. Child care and work go hand in hand, what you get out of your childcare depends on your job, the income you receive from it and the schedule you can make out of it.
After reviewing the course material on welfare reform and reviewing Chaundry’s findings and recommendations about survival strategies, I think they are kind of similar. It seems that the course material was relying heavily on these mothers getting help from the government and everybody else. It seemed as if they were really trying to push to get these laws passed that will help mothers and give them a chance. Chaundry on the other hand seemed to be trying to find ways for mothers to do it on their own. It seemed as if in Chaundry’s findings, the mothers knew the situation they were in and they knew that they weren’t going to get any help from the government or anybody else anytime soon so they found ways to do it on their own. These mothers in Chaundry’s study were finding strategies that they themselves could play out, not strategies that relied on the government’s assistance. It seemed as if the course material on welfare reform was trying to find ways to fix the problem through education and government assistance, but the mothers in Chaundry’s study has many different ways to fix the problem, it was just about finding the ones that worked the best and fit their schedule and lifestyle the best.
How these strategies pointed to interrelations between work and care were all over the place. You can’t work without care and you cannot give your child care without working to pay for it. The struggle of finding a balancing schedule between the two seemed to be the biggest problem for mothers and then of course is the problem of finding good enough quality of care for the amount of money that these mothers could afford. Child care and work go hand in hand, what you get out of your childcare depends on your job, the income you receive from it and the schedule you can make out of it.
After reviewing the course material on welfare reform and reviewing Chaundry’s findings and recommendations about survival strategies, I think they are kind of similar. It seems that the course material was relying heavily on these mothers getting help from the government and everybody else. It seemed as if they were really trying to push to get these laws passed that will help mothers and give them a chance. Chaundry on the other hand seemed to be trying to find ways for mothers to do it on their own. It seemed as if in Chaundry’s findings, the mothers knew the situation they were in and they knew that they weren’t going to get any help from the government or anybody else anytime soon so they found ways to do it on their own. These mothers in Chaundry’s study were finding strategies that they themselves could play out, not strategies that relied on the government’s assistance. It seemed as if the course material on welfare reform was trying to find ways to fix the problem through education and government assistance, but the mothers in Chaundry’s study has many different ways to fix the problem, it was just about finding the ones that worked the best and fit their schedule and lifestyle the best.
Blog #9
The relationship between working poor women’s conditions and children in poverty goes hand in hand. Children are in poverty because of the status of the woman who brought them into the world. If their mother’s are poor, then the child is poor and therefore they are born into poverty. I am not saying it is the mother’s fault, but that is how it goes; if your parents are in poverty and you are a child, then you are in poverty as well. Not only do these working poor women have to look after themselves, they have to take care of a child or children as well, therefore making everything that much more difficult. The poor working women can only do so much for her children because she cannot even support herself. Looking at charts from the National Center for Children in Poverty just goes to show that the working poor women’s conditions affect the children in poverty. Characteristic of officially poor children in American are the same as working poor women, a majority are black, Latino and American Indian and Asian; they are minorities. When you are a child, having immigrant parents increases the chances of being poor and being a working poor women and an immigrant increases your chances of being poor as well. Another thing you see in the charts is that poverty rates are highest for young children and that is believed to be true because parents of young children do not earn as much as parents of older children because they have less job experience and are younger. There are a lot of younger poor women out there as well. Hardships that working poor women and children in poverty experience are the same too, they both experience food insecurity, affordable, decent housing, and lack of health insurance. They also both stress about what is going to happen next.
Blog #8
“Urban poverty” creates many specific problems for poor working mothers. It seems as if the mothers in the sample in chapter four of Chaudry’s book all seem to have at least one concern in common, they all worry about what their children will end up like in the future since they do not really have anybody in the neighborhood to look up to. Many times poor working mothers in “urban poverty” have to use unsatisfactory child care and on top of that, they do not know how to decipher, or the just simply can’t decipher because they don’t have time, the quality of the care the child is being put into. These mothers in “urban poverty” don’t have time to sit there and research and inspect every single child care place that they take their children to. A good example of this was Traci, Traci would look for signals like appearance of the setting and the child care provider’s attitude toward the children, things that were obvious enough to pick up on the first time. Other disadvantages or problems that “urban poverty” creates is joblessness, declines in residential real estate and the deterioration and abandonment of homes, loss of businesses and quality of the community, dependence on welfare, poorly functioning public schools, crime and high levels of concern for the safety of residents, violence, drugs, disconnection from the larger city and the absence of residents’ concern for their neighborhoods. Incarceration of the parents, or more specifically the husband or boyfriend, is another specific problem that “urban poverty” creates for poor working mothers. Poor women in mixed income neighborhoods do not face a majority of these problems because there are people who make a better living around them and making the environment and community different. Drugs and violence are probably not all over the streets because the residents do not allow it and the security is probably better.
Blog #7
There are lots of factors that contribute to the instability of child care that Jaqueline and Julia experience. At first, Julia tries to use kin care by having the baby’s father watch the children while she is at work. This did not last long though because eventually they broke up. The next care provider was Julia’s cousin, Izzy, but that ended after five months because Izzy’s work prevented her for continuing to provide the care. Next up, Julia turned to the Agency for Child Development for subsidized care, but she was placed at the end of a long waiting list because she was not a high priority because she was not working or attending school at the time she applied. She finally did make it into a welfare program, Work Experience Program, but shortly after finding care through that program, the welfare program’s system was late in making payments, leaving Julia without child care once again. She lost her next child care provider because of subsidy payment problems again, but this time she risked losing both of her jobs as well. Shortly after this, Julia lost all her assistance from the government and her increased housing and food expenses left her unable to pay for child care. In the end, Julia’s expenses and debt continued to grow and her work schedule also did not fit with any available child care schedule. With minimum wage jobs the schedule is most likely not as flexible. When you work minimum wage jobs as a poor working mother you probably work more than one job, therefore making it even more difficult to find child care for all the time you are at work. Minimum wage jobs make child care very unstable for children and mothers as well. It is also very hard to work your way up when you start at minimum wage jobs, most moms said that they have worked minimum wage jobs their entire lives, never making it over that hump to better pay and a reason for that could be lack of child care in order to give the effort needed in order to move up.
Blog #6
The range of child care used by low-income mothers varies significantly. The different types of care generally fall into four different categories: home-based individualized child care, family child care in caregiver’s home, center care and other settings and types. Types of child care that fall into the home-based, individualized child care is father care, kin care by an adult relative or close family friend, informal care by a nonrelated adult, neighbor, or acquaintance, care by paid nanny or sitter in child’s home, and care by older siblings. Types of care that fall into the family child care in caregiver’s home are family day care (licensed), family day care network (licensed), and family day care group. Types of child care that fall into the center care are group day care and nursery programs, head start and early head start centers, and pre-K and preschool programs. Last, but not least, the types of child care that fall into the other settings and types are mother’s care while working, specialized care or special needs care, and day care in shelters, hospitals or other specialized or service institutions. One thing that mothers have to take into consideration when looking for child care is the setting, the provider, the content and the quality of the care because their children are most likely spending a majority of their time there therefore, wherever these children are staying plays a large role in their development. With Bethany’s story, there were many factors that challenged and put a constraint on her child care choices such as, training for jobs, availability of care providers, subsidy given by welfare programs, reliability of care provider, and conflicts between mother and child care provider.
The type of child care that mothers prefer and the type of child care that the actually use can differ greatly. To me, it seems as if a lot of mothers prefer kin care because trust is a huge issue when looking for someone to take care of your children and who can you trust more than your own family. Harriet, for example, expects her family to provide care. A lot of mothers do not get what they prefer usually because of many different reasons such as money, conflict, or family issues and that is very unfortunate.
The type of child care that mothers prefer and the type of child care that the actually use can differ greatly. To me, it seems as if a lot of mothers prefer kin care because trust is a huge issue when looking for someone to take care of your children and who can you trust more than your own family. Harriet, for example, expects her family to provide care. A lot of mothers do not get what they prefer usually because of many different reasons such as money, conflict, or family issues and that is very unfortunate.
Blog # 5
Chaudry argues that “we are asking the less fortunate to strive and work harder, we are deeply discounting our public responsibility for the children born into poor families and disadvantaged communities” (p.14) because he believes that we could have replaced welfare with more support and opportunites for children in addition to strong work requirements. While we were sitting there telling the poor families to work harder and do better, we weren’t thinking about what would be done with these children. People want poor people to stop being “lazy” and get out there and work, but then these people do not want to assist the poor people with taking care of their children, what do they expect these children in poverty to do while their parents are out trying to make a living and work harder because other people told them to? In one of the videos, it starts off with a man defining the working poor as people who go to work and earn a wage, but still don’t have enough money to pay rent or make a house payment or buy food and medicine for their kids. Another man says that the working poor are people who work full time jobs and still can’t make ends meet because of the cost of housing, cost of food, and cost of insurance. This video helped support Chaudry’s perspective that the issue is a public one and not a personal one because all these people blame the reason the poor people are poor because of the cost of things. Almost every single person that answered the question of who are the poor working class stated that they were people who worked, for minimum wage, but still could not pay things. The public, or should I say the government, are the people that set prices on things, they have the power to do something about it, they have the power to change it, so the working poor are the public’s problem because the poor people are working and trying to make a living, but what they make hourly and what they have to pay for doesn’t match up, so they cannot keep up.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Blog #4
What are some characteristics of a good family life? I think it varies between different families, but generally, there are a lot of characteristics of a good family. The most important characteristic would be love. Every family definitely needs love, because without it you are just a group of people who are stuck together because of who you were born to. It is important to feel loved in a family, or else you feel like something is missing from you. Other characteristics of a good family are appreciation, support, respect, and values; I could go on and on. Appreciation is very important in a family because in a family everybody should try and help everybody out and once you have received help you need to recognize it and appreciate what those people are doing for you. If you don’t appreciate your family, one day they could not be there for you when you need them the most. It is important to feel appreciated, or else eventually you might just give up because you don’t see the point. Children need to appreciate their parents and realize everything they have done for them while growing up. Supporting one another in a family is important because it gives people the courage to do what they want to do. Everybody needs support in their lives and who better to receive it from then your own family. Respect is obviously a big characteristic of a good family, because if you don’t have respect for one another, there is no structure. Moms and dads need to respect one another so everything is fair in the house, brothers and sisters need to respect each other, and parents need to respect their children as well as children respect their parents. If there is no respect, there is probably no peace and the family structure is probably a little off. Family values is a good characteristic because when a family has all the same values, everybody can be on the same page and cooperate together, such as sitting down to dinner together every night and spending one night a week playing a game or watching a movie, something like that. Family should always come first.
To balance a career and a family life is very tough. I don’t have a family of my own, I still live with my parents, but trying to work, go to school and spend time with my family/friends is very tough. It is all about organization and prioritizing. To be able to balance a family and a career, I think you need to have all the things listed in the characteristics of a good family life. You have to have a lot of structure and a good schedule. People who balance a career and a family need to realize when it is time to stop working and time to start being with the family and vice versa. It is very important to remember that family is first when balancing a career and a family, although I know that is not always easy, but it is also important to realize that you don’t need to be at every family function either, that it is ok to miss that dinner occasionally or that soccer game.
If you don’t have the characteristics listed in the good family characteristics, a balance between a career and a family can be very difficult to achieve. If you don’t have a support system at home, who is going to be there to help you whenever you need it, you aren’t going to want to do anything. Also, if you don’t have a supportive or understanding employer, that can also make it very difficult to achieve that balance.
Changes in traditional gender roles have made work and family issues more complex, because more men are starting to stay home and take care of the family, while women are going off to work. The expectations of women and men are changing and some people do not know how to adapt to them. With women working, adjustments need to be made in companies so when these women are pregnant and about to have their babies, they know it is ok to leave for a little bit.
Employers need to start realizing that women and men are both going to work now and a majority of these people have families and are going to need time off or a more flexible schedule sometime in their lives, so they need to start adjusting their policies. All companies should adopt workplace flexibility. Employers need to put themselves in their employees shoes and realize one day that could be them as well. They need to listen to their employees, find out their needs and wants and then compromise and come up with a plan.
Having support from family members, workers or neighbors make balancing priorities so much easier because you have this sort of team behind you that will help you wherever you need it. When you have support you know that there are people that are there for you to step in. They give you the courage to keep going and if you can’t do something, you know there is somebody there that probably can.
To balance a career and a family life is very tough. I don’t have a family of my own, I still live with my parents, but trying to work, go to school and spend time with my family/friends is very tough. It is all about organization and prioritizing. To be able to balance a family and a career, I think you need to have all the things listed in the characteristics of a good family life. You have to have a lot of structure and a good schedule. People who balance a career and a family need to realize when it is time to stop working and time to start being with the family and vice versa. It is very important to remember that family is first when balancing a career and a family, although I know that is not always easy, but it is also important to realize that you don’t need to be at every family function either, that it is ok to miss that dinner occasionally or that soccer game.
If you don’t have the characteristics listed in the good family characteristics, a balance between a career and a family can be very difficult to achieve. If you don’t have a support system at home, who is going to be there to help you whenever you need it, you aren’t going to want to do anything. Also, if you don’t have a supportive or understanding employer, that can also make it very difficult to achieve that balance.
Changes in traditional gender roles have made work and family issues more complex, because more men are starting to stay home and take care of the family, while women are going off to work. The expectations of women and men are changing and some people do not know how to adapt to them. With women working, adjustments need to be made in companies so when these women are pregnant and about to have their babies, they know it is ok to leave for a little bit.
Employers need to start realizing that women and men are both going to work now and a majority of these people have families and are going to need time off or a more flexible schedule sometime in their lives, so they need to start adjusting their policies. All companies should adopt workplace flexibility. Employers need to put themselves in their employees shoes and realize one day that could be them as well. They need to listen to their employees, find out their needs and wants and then compromise and come up with a plan.
Having support from family members, workers or neighbors make balancing priorities so much easier because you have this sort of team behind you that will help you wherever you need it. When you have support you know that there are people that are there for you to step in. They give you the courage to keep going and if you can’t do something, you know there is somebody there that probably can.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Blog 3
1) There has always constantly been carework in my family both between my mom and my dad, but mostly by my mom because my dad has always worked full time. Until I was about seven or eight and my brother five or six, my mom was a stay at home mom. She cooked, cleaned, took care of us when we were sick, drove us to school, drove us to lots of after school activities, participated in the PTA and was always constantly doing things at our school and in our classroom. My dad always worked, but he would also participate in after school activities and he would always take us to do things outside of the house. He would try to cook sometimes, he helps my mom clean the bathrooms and he does all of the outside chores. My mom takes care of my grandparents, they live on their own, but she takes them to doctor appointments, helps manage their bank accounts and keeps all her brothers and sisters in line, and she is only the middle child of five children. I personally help my parents with household chores and help when family members are sick or in the hospital. I am also always there for any of my friends or family who ever need anything.
2) I think what they are doing in the UK is wonderful. They recognize that almost everybody, whether male or female, is going to have to help someone who can’t help themselves because of some sort of health issue, such as sickness or disability, or age, at some point in their lives. To be able to recognize something like that is important because you are more open to helping those people out. Supporting carers’ at work is very smart. Employers realize that without supporting these people they are missing out on these clever, bright people who are unable to contribute to the workplace because they have someone they need to take care of. A majority of the time too, employers realize that they are getting even better work product from those people they are letting work from home or leave work early, then they would if they didn’t give them flexible work schedules. There idea of flexible work schedules is smart. The loyalty and commitment from employees is better as well. It is very nice to see that some employers recognize that it’s important to maintain a good staff and they can do that by giving employees flexible schedules and in the end everybody wins.
Society needs to reconstruct there notions of the home as women’s work by realizing that more women are getting jobs and the household work needs to be reevaluated and spread amongst all members of the household.
2) I think what they are doing in the UK is wonderful. They recognize that almost everybody, whether male or female, is going to have to help someone who can’t help themselves because of some sort of health issue, such as sickness or disability, or age, at some point in their lives. To be able to recognize something like that is important because you are more open to helping those people out. Supporting carers’ at work is very smart. Employers realize that without supporting these people they are missing out on these clever, bright people who are unable to contribute to the workplace because they have someone they need to take care of. A majority of the time too, employers realize that they are getting even better work product from those people they are letting work from home or leave work early, then they would if they didn’t give them flexible work schedules. There idea of flexible work schedules is smart. The loyalty and commitment from employees is better as well. It is very nice to see that some employers recognize that it’s important to maintain a good staff and they can do that by giving employees flexible schedules and in the end everybody wins.
Society needs to reconstruct there notions of the home as women’s work by realizing that more women are getting jobs and the household work needs to be reevaluated and spread amongst all members of the household.
Blog #2
1) Sex segregation is the segregation of females and males in the workplace. I think of it as either women and men just holding different positions, for example women being secretaries and men being their bosses. It is also women and men being treated differently when holding the exact same position, for example women getting paid less and having different, or even none, of the same benefits as men when they have the exact same skills and experience. I am not sure how sex segregation exists in employment at ASU because I do not work there, but I have probably had a fair share of both women and men teachers and I know the head person of the Justice Studies department is a woman.
2) At home it is my mom and dad and my brother and I. My brother is younger than me by two years. We were brought up with the stereotypical socialization structures you see in the United States. My dad worked and my mom stayed at home until I was about seven or eight and then my mom went to work as well as my dad and she played the role of working mom and caretaker at home. My dad would help with cooking and cleaning though when my mom started to work; he was always good at that. Once my brother and I got older we got assigned the stereotypical gender roles with chores. I did the dishes and cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed while he did all the outside chores with my dad and took out the trash, but he has to help clean the inside of the house at times too. At school female teachers always outweighed the male teachers heavily, but the principle was a male. I work in a law firm and at work a majority of the partners are male. There are quite a few female associates thoug. All of the secretaries are female and almost all of the paralegals are female. This socialization is related to patriarchy because with patriarchy, males are the supreme authority and you see that in the work place, schools and in most families.
3) With men unemployed, women now not only have to struggle with working, they have to worry about still being the caretaker at home as well. More men are being laid off because the cuts in jobs are mostly in the manufacturing and construction businesses, where men mostly work. Stay at home moms are taking part time jobs and working moms are taking on multiple jobs. Those jobs though are still being unequal to women in areas such as pay and benefits.
Wage gaps still persists because although more women are working, women are still only making 77 cents for every dollar man makes. Women are also being left out of benefits, such as health insurance and paid vacation. A lot of women do not have life insurance either and with more women starting to work, they need to consider life insurance.
2) At home it is my mom and dad and my brother and I. My brother is younger than me by two years. We were brought up with the stereotypical socialization structures you see in the United States. My dad worked and my mom stayed at home until I was about seven or eight and then my mom went to work as well as my dad and she played the role of working mom and caretaker at home. My dad would help with cooking and cleaning though when my mom started to work; he was always good at that. Once my brother and I got older we got assigned the stereotypical gender roles with chores. I did the dishes and cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed while he did all the outside chores with my dad and took out the trash, but he has to help clean the inside of the house at times too. At school female teachers always outweighed the male teachers heavily, but the principle was a male. I work in a law firm and at work a majority of the partners are male. There are quite a few female associates thoug. All of the secretaries are female and almost all of the paralegals are female. This socialization is related to patriarchy because with patriarchy, males are the supreme authority and you see that in the work place, schools and in most families.
3) With men unemployed, women now not only have to struggle with working, they have to worry about still being the caretaker at home as well. More men are being laid off because the cuts in jobs are mostly in the manufacturing and construction businesses, where men mostly work. Stay at home moms are taking part time jobs and working moms are taking on multiple jobs. Those jobs though are still being unequal to women in areas such as pay and benefits.
Wage gaps still persists because although more women are working, women are still only making 77 cents for every dollar man makes. Women are also being left out of benefits, such as health insurance and paid vacation. A lot of women do not have life insurance either and with more women starting to work, they need to consider life insurance.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Introduction
A) My blog handle is very plain and boring, but I wanted to keep it simple. It is simply the title of the class.
B) My major is Justice Studies and my minor is English literature. This is my last semester at ASU and I am very excited.
C) I chose this class to fulfill a requirement and because the title of the class sounded very interesting. I work now and I work with very powerful women and I hope to be a powerful business woman one day too, so this class caught my eye. I think it is very important to look at issues that women have had with justice and the work area and understand them because we probably wouldn’t be here today had those women not gone through them.
Women, work and justice are three words that seem to go together pretty well for me. I think it took a very long time and a lot of hard work to have those three words make sense together for a lot of people, but overtime, especially now, they just fit. In this time in age, there are many more women in the work force and slowly, but surely, women are becoming more and more equal with men in the work force. Issues with women and the work force are much different these days and a lot of new issues dealing with women and being in the work force involve justice. Women are becoming stronger and more willing to speak there minds and fight for there rights. Women’s priorities are beginning to shift from babies and homemaker first to careers first. Justice to me is equality or being able to fight for your equality and getting it in the end. Justice is also about being able to do the right thing when you see it. Being able to do these things are very important to women because without justice, women definitely would not be where they are today in the work force.
B) My major is Justice Studies and my minor is English literature. This is my last semester at ASU and I am very excited.
C) I chose this class to fulfill a requirement and because the title of the class sounded very interesting. I work now and I work with very powerful women and I hope to be a powerful business woman one day too, so this class caught my eye. I think it is very important to look at issues that women have had with justice and the work area and understand them because we probably wouldn’t be here today had those women not gone through them.
Women, work and justice are three words that seem to go together pretty well for me. I think it took a very long time and a lot of hard work to have those three words make sense together for a lot of people, but overtime, especially now, they just fit. In this time in age, there are many more women in the work force and slowly, but surely, women are becoming more and more equal with men in the work force. Issues with women and the work force are much different these days and a lot of new issues dealing with women and being in the work force involve justice. Women are becoming stronger and more willing to speak there minds and fight for there rights. Women’s priorities are beginning to shift from babies and homemaker first to careers first. Justice to me is equality or being able to fight for your equality and getting it in the end. Justice is also about being able to do the right thing when you see it. Being able to do these things are very important to women because without justice, women definitely would not be where they are today in the work force.
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