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.