Sociology Now, Census Update

women, and men compete with other men, for jobs that are already coded as appro-

priate for one and not the other (Table 9.2). And while we might think that different

sexes are “naturally” predisposed toward certain jobs and not others, that is not the

same everywhere. While most dentists in the United States are male, in Europe dentists

are mostly female. In New York City, only 25 women are firefighters, out of a force of

11,500, while in Minneapolis, 23 percent of firefighters are women, as is the fire chief.

The issue is less about the intrinsic properties of the position that determine its wages

and prestige and more about which sex performs it. So widespread is this thinking that

in occupations from journalism, to medicine, to teaching, to law, to pharmacy, sociol-

ogists have noted a phenomenon dubbed feminization of the professions, in which

salaries drop as female participation increases (Menkel-Meadow, 1987; Wylie, 2000).

The Wage Gap. No matter where you look, women earn less than men. In 2005, the

median annual income for men working full time was $41,386; for women it was

$31,858, or 77 percent of men’s income (DeNavas-Walt, et al., 2006). On average,

a woman brings home about $184 less per week than a man. Women of color fare

considerably worse (Figure 9.5).

Ironically, the gap is magnified at the management level. For every dollar earned

by a White male manager, a White female manager earns just 59 cents; a Black

woman manager gets only 57 cents, and a Latina manager an even smaller 48 cents

(Becker, 2002). And women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds pay an enormous

300 CHAPTER 9SEX AND GENDER

OBJECTIVE: Explore the world of work and examine to

what extent work is often gendered.

STEP 1: Plan

There are two options for this project. Check with your

instructor to see which option should be completed.

Option 1:Choose a restaurant (or food location on campus)

to observe for this project. Please note that your instructor

may assign different types of locations.

Option 2:Examine some type of “home” magazine like

Better Homes and GardensorFamily Circle.

STEP 2: Collect Data

Option 1:Restaurant Observation

Take a notebook and pen with you to the restaurant and

note what employees seem to be doing; also note the

gender of each employee. Be sure to note the date, time,

and location of your observation.

For each employee note the following:

1.What was the employee’s gender?

2.What was the employee doing? waiting tables? cooking?

cleaning? managing?

3.How was the employee dressed?

4.Did you observe any other interesting interactions?

Option 2:Magazine Analysis

Look at six advertisements in the magazine that include

pictures of either men or women. Also, look through the

entire magazine to see if you can find any advertisements

that portray men as homemakers and women as bread-

winners. If you find any type of advertisement suggesting

the opposite of traditional gender norms, then bring it to

class.

For each advertisement note the following:

1.What is the product being advertised?

2.What is the gender of each person in the advertisement?

3.What type of occupation does each person seem to have

in the advertisement? In other words, what gender

messages are being portrayed in the advertisement?

STEP 3: Discuss

Bring the data collected in your observations to class and be

prepared to collectively analyze class data.

Your instructor will help guide this discussion. Are

there any gender patterns that exist in restaurant work? If

so, what are they? In what other types of work could you

have observed and noticed similar patterns? What other

types of magazines could have been explored in this

activity? Overall, what does any of this suggest about sex

and gender in our society?

Gender and Occupational Stratification

Contributed by Katherine R. Rowell, Sinclair Community College.