Economics of Gender

Category: Fall 2022 (Page 1 of 3)

Inequalities Faced by LGBTQ+ STEM Professionals

December 12, 2023 /

The LGBTQ+ community has faced discrimination within every field of work. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have been ostracised, ridiculed, and even discredited for their work within their respective fields. The discrimination faced is heightened within the STEM field. Although this field of research is new, we can still analyze the findings that the articles that have been released present. 

Overall, each of the ten articles we researched concluded that members of the LGBTQ+ community who are also in STEM have faced greater discrimination than members of the LGBTQ+ community who are not in STEM. LGBTQ+ STEM professionals have been quoted saying they have felt included, harassed, and ridiculed during their work. (Cech and Waidzunas, 2021). Members of the LGBTQ+ community who are not in STEM have not experienced as much discrimination as members in STEM (Cech and Waidzunas, 2021). Each article focuses on different aspects of the same outcome. One article stated that gay men are 12% more likely to be driven out of the STEM field in comparison to straight men within the same field (Nishat, 2019). Although women within the LGBTQ+ community face hardships and discrimination, they are 2% more likely to join the STEM field (Nishat, 2019). Another study shows that there is significant occupational gender composition, which appears to influence the choices of LGBTQ workers, a majority in gay men and lesbian women (Finnigan, 2020). 

There are some policies that could come into place to fix the divide between LGBTQ+ professionals in STEM and non-LGBTQ+ professionals in STEM. LGBTQ+ professionals in the nursing field have said that there needs to be some sort of education period for “higher-ups” in the medical field (Eliason, 2011). Higher-ups have been remarked as “unfriendly” and not willing to accept the members of the LGBTQ+ community within their field (Eliason, 2011).  An education period for members in every field of work could help benefit members of the LGBTQ+ community, which could lead to the acceptance and lack of discrimination that they are seeking. A policy surrounding the credit for work that has been done could be put into place as well. As stated before, LGBTQ+ members in STEM have been often discredited for their own work/findings solely because of their sexuality. Another policy could be in place to help assure these members of STEM that their work will be recognized regardless of their sexual orientation.

If policies in regards to the equal treatment of LGBTQ+ professionals in STEM do not come into place, then there will be even more of a decline in the amount that want to work within this field. It may seem like a small total as of right now, but if the trajectory that this is on stays the same, then there will be less representation of LGBTQ+ workers in STEM and other working fields. This could turn out to have long-term negative economic effects, seeing that there was starting to be more of a presence of LGBTQ+ in STEM. Without the equality they deserve, they are going to leave the field, which the STEM field will suffer from in the long run.

Research Questions

  • What needs to be done policy-wise to encourage the government to keep data on LGBTQ+ professionals in STEM?
  • Why are women within the LGBTQ+ community more likely to be in STEM than men in the LGBTQ+ community?
  • How can LGBTQ STEM organizations and groups contribute to the sense of community and belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals in the STEM field?

Citations

Cech and Waidzunas, Systemic Inequalities for LGBTQ Professionals in STEM – Science, www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe0933. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023. 

Eliason, Michele J., et al. “Https://Www.Sciencedirect.Com/Science/Article/Abs/Pii/S8755722311000329?via%3Dihub.” Science Direct , www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S8755722311000329?via%3Dihub. 

Nishat, and Please enter your name here. “New Data Examines Presence of LGBTQ People in Stem.” Open Access Government, 19 Nov. 2020, www.openaccessgovernment.org/lgbtq-people-in-stem/98054/.

The Objectification of Women in the Media

December 11, 2023 /

By Alexandra Francis and Lillie Edwards

Overview:

The objectification of women in the media refers to the fact that women are often stereotyped and sexualized in various forms of media. Examples of this can be seen on television, in movies, lyrics in popular music, and even in sports media. Often, on screen, women are portrayed in a manner that highlights physical attraction and reinforces gender stereotypes regarding the intellectual and professional ability of women. Studies show that holding women to the unrealistic standards that are seen on screen skews society’s view of women, as well as how women view themselves (Rousseau, 2019). A large portion of modern media is music, and women are the most frequent targets of objectification within music lyrics (Flynn, 2016). Additionally, female athletes are viewed more on their appearance than their athleticism (Daniels, 2020). Female athletes are often sexualized and are not taken as seriously as male athletes. The depiction of women in the media has a variety of long-term consequences in society through the reinforcement of gender stereotypes which increases self-esteem issues within women. 

Policy Recommendations:

Policy intervention could be used to minimize the long-term effects of objectification of women in future media. Although old media are abundant in which women are objectified and minimized, moving forward, policies could be put in place that create stricter guidelines on the portrayal of women in the media. Additionally, there should be more education and awareness regarding the long-term impacts of how women are depicted on screen. Young men and women should be made aware of the impacts of what media they are consuming. Finally, new media could paint women in a light that contradicts society’s narrow expectations and defies gender stereotypes. 

Consequences Without Interventions:

Objectification can have very negative consequences on the way women view themselves. Women are depicted in the media and focused on their appearance and are less likely to be featured in a manner that depicts them as smart and hard-working (Santoniccolo, 2023). This sets a precedent that women must look or be a certain way. These are unrealistic measures and can cause women to feel the need to change the way they look. Objectification in women can also be connected back to poor mental health and eating disorders (Szymanski, 2007). These are serious consequences women are faced with caused by irrational standards media sets for women. 

Research Questions:

Some feature research can be done to help come to a better understanding of why our worldviews women the way it does, and if a change is on the horizon. A good research question would be, how do different ages in males affect their levels of objectifying women? Do older men objectify women more or do younger men? Research on this could help us understand whether there has been any improvement in media to help change the views of the younger generation of males today. Future research on the financial differences between popular movies with women being severely objectified versus popular movies where women are not objectified would be very telling. I wonder if there is a major difference and if that has changed over time due to how films have changed.

References: 

Daniels, E. A. (2009). Sex Objects, Athletes, and Sexy Athletes. Journal of Adolescent Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558409336748

Daniels, Elizabeth A., et al. “Sexualized and Athletic: Viewers’ Attitudes toward Sexualized Performance Images of Female Athletes – Sex Roles.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 21 Apr. 2020, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-020-01152-y.

Flynn, M.A., Craig, C.M., Anderson, C.N. et al. Objectification in Popular Music Lyrics: An Examination of Gender and Genre Differences. Sex Roles 75, 164–176 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0592-3

Lampis, J., Cataudella, S., Busonera, A. et al. The moderating effect of gender role on the relationships between gender and attitudes about body and eating in a sample of Italian adolescents. Eat Weight Disord 24, 3–11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0372-2

Rousseau, A., Rodgers, R.F. & Eggermont, S. A Short-Term Longitudinal Exploration of the Impact of TV Exposure on Objectifying Attitudes Toward Women in Early Adolescent Boys. Sex Roles 80, 186–199 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0925-5

Societal Gender Norms and Workplace Discrimination

December 11, 2023 /

While there has been significant progress made in creating a more fair and equal work environment for men and women, it is impossible to ignore the gender-related social norms that are still barriers for women in the workplace. Although these social norms may seem to be a series of micro interactions, they accumulate into a grand macro problem of workplace discrimination against women. Donna Bobbitt-Zeher focuses on the specific experiences women have at work and emphasizes, “We must look at processes that lead to unequal outcomes for women and men. The real challenge is to uncover how discrimination unfolds in the workplace” (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). In the article there is a focus on the discrimination of Christy Kinneson as opposed to hypothetical scenarios. Christy Kinneson was a clerk in a manufacturing plant and comments were made by others in the plant regarding her nature. As described in the article, “Those managers clearly could not tolerate a woman acting like a man.” This negative view was translated into her firing as insubordinate. Although the work environment was described as “rough and tumble” with vulgar language commonplace and men engaging in similar or worse conduct, her General Manager justified her firing, stating, “she showed a blatant disregard and lack of respect for her supervisors…” (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011). Obviously, Ms. Kinneson faced a double standard as to fire a member of the opposite gender based on insubordination but to not hold the men at the plant to that same standard is an example of why gender norms are still great obstacles for women in the workplace and are standing in the way of economic equality. 

Additionally, societal norms often create barriers and obstacles for women’s entry and those that are working their way up the corporate “ladder.” Women often receive discrimination, prejudice, performance devaluation, and general backlash when trying to succeed in the workforce. “For instance, across occupations, median weekly earnings diverge by 18.5% between men and women and these gaps widen in higher-paid occupations” (Garcia, 2022). It is important to emphasize that these gaps widen as the jobs become higher paid, meaning that discrimination could very possibly increase the higher up the “work ladder” a woman climbs.  Additionally, when women do climb up the corporate ladder, there is also a great deal of differences in leadership that men and women possess. These differences affect long term workplace success and equality among genders. Unfortunately, women only hold 6.2% of CEO positions among S&P 500 companies and make up a combined 26% of managing directors and CEOS in the workforce, resulting in real workplace change for women being a rarity (Garcia, 2022). Finally, it is important to note that, “…about 42% of working women (compared to 22% of working men) reported that they experienced job discrimination–such as earning less for the same job and being treated as if they were not competent–because of their gender” (Garcia, 2022). These statistics support the idea that societal norms often prevent women from real leadership positions resulting in the continued discrimination of women in the workplace.

Finally, women receive gender-related discrimination in the workplace even when they are in positions of power to make corporate decisions. In Tai Kenneth’s article “Gender, Bottom-Line Mentality, and Workplace Mistreatment…”  she focuses on how women with higher bottom-line decision-making tendencies are viewed to be higher gender norm violations than men with lower bottom-line decision-making tendencies (Kenneth 2022). These gender norm violations often result in mistreatment and discrimination. Due to this, we can see the preferred societal standards that women are held to, and the less leeway women have with gender norms in the workplace as opposed to men.  In conclusion, societal norms still greatly dictate gender workplace discrimination and women are still unfairly targeted as a result. 

  • What policies can be implemented to ensure that men and women are receiving fair workplace treatment?
  • What role do traditional family dynamics have on women’s career paths? 
  •  Does the sterotypical representation of women in media have an impact  on women’s success rates in their career work?

Works Cited 

Hanek, K. J., &  Garcia, S. M. (2022).  Barriers for women in the workplace: A social psychological perspective. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 

Bobbitt-Zeher, Donna. “Gender Discrimination at Work: Connecting Gender Stereotypes, Institutional Policies, and Gender Composition of Workplace.” Gender and Society, vol. 25, no. 6, 2011, pp. 764–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23212199. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.

Tai, Kenneth, et al. “Gender, Bottom-Line Mentality, and Workplace Mistreatment: The Roles of Gender Norm Violation and Team Gender Composition.” Journal of Applied Psychology 107.5 (2022): 854-65. ProQuest. Web. 27 Nov. 2023.

 

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Division of Household Labor: Women Put in More Work, But How Does This Effect Them?

December 8, 2023 /

By Georgia Fales and Himena Yimane

The division of labor within households has been a longstanding issue influenced by societal norms, disparities in the labor force, and deviance neutralization. Although there has become more progression in the equality of household labor disparities persist and have caused long-lasting effects on women. Effects on women can be seen through the wage gap, retention in the labor force, and traditional gender norms that still exist today. 

Many factors influence how the division of labor is distributed. Driving factors such as family composition, income, and participation in the labor force have a substantial effect. 

According to Economic dependence, gender, and the division of labor in the home (Theodore N. Greenstein, 2000) in homes that have a male as their source of primary income, there is a higher likelihood that the disparities are larger. In the case that women are the main source of income, there seemed to be a similar response with the process of deviance neutralization to counteract those nontraditional norms. With women taking on more household jobs, as a result, they are less likely to be part of the labor force which in turn widens the wage gap.

Family composition and income can highly influence the disparities of household labor. In The Parenthood Effect on Gender Inequality: Explaining the Change in Paid and Domestic Work When British Couples Become Parents (Katherine Michelmore and Sharon Sassler, 2016)  there seemed to be a reoccurring pattern of women, pre-children, who made a higher income tended to have higher retention in the labor force while women, pre-children, who had a lower income had lower retention in the labor force and spent more time dedicated to household chores. This pattern can explain the complexities of becoming a parent and the responsibilities that are traditionally passed to the mother. With fathers not usually taking on household responsibilities, women are deterred from the labor force when they do not have the economic necessities for childcare or support. 

Childcare policies and other policies that challenge gender norms are needed to help change the disparities in household labor and the labor force. Paid leave policies need to be more accessible in all different occupations to support a family’s responsibility in the context of becoming a parent. Affordable childcare policies also need to be implemented to help retain women in the labor force after becoming a parent to minimize disproportions in the labor force. Promoting more equality in aspects of household and labor market is needed to help with these enduring complex issues.

Throughout research, it is clear that the world is moving in the right direction but there are still many challenges women are still facing. The understanding of division of household labor is key to understanding the more complex issues that are prevalent in our society today. With the implementation of these policies can contribute to a more equitable distribution within the household and the labor market.



 

 

 

 

Gender Discrimination During COVID-19: Men are more Likely to get COVID-19, but Women Suffer the Most

December 10, 2022 /

Editor: HANG ZHANG

After the outbreak of COVID-19, we were forced to stay at home, some of us lost relatives, and others lost their jobs. However, life goes on. We all have to think about where life is going after the coronavirus. Amongst the many changes, the most obvious is that women’s situation may not be good.

A Summary of Gender Issues Identified in COVID-19

According to the article ‘the gender gap in COVID-19 mortality in the United Stated’, men accounted for eight percentage points more deaths than women across all age categories during the COVID-19. However, regarding social impact women are more adversely affected by COVID-19.

Both men and women work from home during the outbreak of Covid-19, but women are the one who mainly cares for the family. In addition, schools were closed, and all students stayed home during the pandemic, which meant mothers needed to do more household duties than before.

Based on the article: ‘Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators, they found that between March 2020 and September 2021, women are more likely to report unemployment (26.0%) than men (20.4%). According to the American Community Survey, women are overrepresented in low-paying jobs in the US. All restaurants and stores were closed during the outbreak, laying off millions of female sales and hospitality workers. Staying at home may sound simple, but things are often much more complicated for women who live with violent partners. According to the domestic violence charity Shelter, calls for help have increased by 25 percent since Covid-19. The more frightening news is that there have been at least 16 domestic violence killings of women and children in the first three weeks of Covid-19.

Policy Recommendations

First, employment and social security should be fairer. The government should encourage female-dominated industries. They should encourage firms that are manage by women with a majority of female employees, involve them in government procurement, and provide preferential finance and credit to help women obtain employment and attain economic independence. Moreover, they can provide unemployed women with free job-transition training. Second, support should provide in the family to alleviate domestic work and stop the violence. Men and women should share family chores, including housework, child care, and elder care. Then, the government could design targeted programs for preventing and suppressing domestic violence, protecting and aiding victims and providing public resources and social assistance.

Consequences without Intervention

The epidemic exacerbates gender inequality and even stalls or reverses the steps we have taken over the last few decades. We need intervention to recover from the COVID-19 recession. If not? Tourism, production, and service industries will have a hard time returning to their pre-epidemic state, resulting in a continued global economic downturn with the potential for a severe financial crisis.

Research Questions

What is the current situation of Chinese female workforce under the circumstance of Chinese government still taking COVID-19 serious and still adhering to its zero-clearance policy? If China’s leader were a woman, would China still be using the same policies to deal with COVID-19? There is no absolute way to prevent the spread and infection of the coronavirus, so we have to live with COVID-19 and what should government and companies to do to make the economy recover under such conditions?

How the COVID-19 impact me

The year I got my acceptance letter from trinity college, the epidemic started. The result was that I took a year off from school, and now I’m 21 years old and only a sophomore in college. In addition, after coming to the U.S., because of China’s zero policy, international flights reduced dramatically in China, and airfares skyrocketed, with the average price reaching 50,000 RMB one-way and only in economy class. So I was faced with either not being able to go home for a long time or paying high fees and being in hotel quarantine for ten days after returning to China.

What do I learned from the research

Even before COVID-19, women were still on the wrong side of society. COVID-19 magnifies the unfair treatment of women in society. In the past, I would never look at problems from a female perspective. The concept of women’s rights is vague in China, and many Chinese women do not realize that they are mistreated compared to men because of Chinese educational background. However, there are more serious feminist issues in China than in the United States, with the self-evident “preference for men” at job fairs, the predominance of male leaders in politics and business, and the fact that women are expected to do more of the household work. Unfortunately, in my search for literature on the topic of gender differences of China in COVID-19, this field of research is empty.

Reference

  1. Bateman, Nicole, and Martha Ross. “Why has COVID-19 been especially harmful for working women.” Brookings [Journal] 14 (2020).
  2. Albanesi, Stefania, and Jiyeon Kim. “Effects of the COVID-19 recession on the US labor market: Occupation, family, and gender.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 35.3 (2021): 3-24.
  3. Flor, Luisa S., et al. “Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators: a comprehensive review of data from March, 2020, to September, 2021.” The Lancet (2022).
  4. Hennekam, Sophie, and Yuliya Shymko. “Coping with the COVID‐19 crisis: Force majeure and gender performativity.” Gender, Work & Organization 27.5 (2020): 788-803.
  5. Sevilla, Almudena, and Sarah Smith. “Baby steps: The gender division of childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy36.Supplement_1 (2020): S169-S186.

Gender Discrimination During COVID-19: Men are more Likely to get COVID-19, but Women Suffer the Most

December 9, 2022 /
After the outbreak of COVID-19, we were forced to stay at home, some of us lost relatives, and others lost their jobs. However, life goes on. We all have to think about where life is going after the coronavirus. Amongst the many changes, the most obvious is that women’s situation may not be good.

A Summary of Gender Issues Identified in COVID-19

According to the article ‘the gender gap in COVID-19 mortality in the United Stated’, men accounted for eight percentage points more deaths than women across all age categories during the COVID-19. However, regarding social impact women are more adversely affected by COVID-19.
Both men and women work from home during the outbreak of Covid-19, but women are the one who mainly cares for the family. In addition, schools were closed, and all students stayed home during the pandemic, which meant mothers needed to do more household duties than before.
Based on the article: ‘Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators, they found that between March 2020 and September 2021, women are more likely to report unemployment (26.0%) than men (20.4%). According to the American Community Survey, women are overrepresented in low-paying jobs in the US. All restaurants and stores were closed during the outbreak, laying off millions of female sales and hospitality workers. Staying at home may sound simple, but things are often much more complicated for women who live with violent partners. According to the domestic violence charity Shelter, calls for help have increased by 25 percent since Covid-19. The more frightening news is that there have been at least 16 domestic violence killings of women and children in the first three weeks of Covid-19.

Policy Recommendations

First, employment and social security should be fairer. The government should encourage female-dominated industries. They should encourage firms that are manage by women with a majority of female employees, involve them in government procurement, and provide preferential finance and credit to help women obtain employment and attain economic independence. Moreover, they can provide unemployed women with free job-transition training. Second, support should provide in the family to alleviate domestic work and stop the violence. Men and women should share family chores, including housework, child care, and elder care. Then, the government could design targeted programs for preventing and suppressing domestic violence, protecting and aiding victims and providing public resources and social assistance.

Consequences without Intervention

The epidemic exacerbates gender inequality and even stalls or reverses the steps we have taken over the last few decades. We need intervention to recover from the COVID-19 recession. If not? Tourism, production, and service industries will have a hard time returning to their pre-epidemic state, resulting in a continued global economic downturn with the potential for a severe financial crisis.

Research Questions

What is the current situation of Chinese female workforce under the circumstance of Chinese government still taking COVID-19 serious and still adhering to its zero-clearance policy? If China’s leader were a woman, would China still be using the same policies to deal with COVID-19? There is no absolute way to prevent the spread and infection of the coronavirus, so we have to live with COVID-19 and what should government and companies to do to make the economy recover under such conditions?

How the COVID-19 impact me

The year I got my acceptance letter from trinity college, the epidemic started. The result was that I took a year off from school, and now I’m 21 years old and only a sophomore in college. In addition, after coming to the U.S., because of China’s zero policy, international flights reduced dramatically in China, and airfares skyrocketed, with the average price reaching 50,000 RMB one-way and only in economy class. So I was faced with either not being able to go home for a long time or paying high fees and being in hotel quarantine for ten days after returning to China.

What do I learned from the research

Even before COVID-19, women were still on the wrong side of society. COVID-19 magnifies the unfair treatment of women in society. In the past, I would never look at problems from a female perspective. The concept of women’s rights is vague in China, and many Chinese women do not realize that they are mistreated compared to men because of Chinese educational background. However, there are more serious feminist issues in China than in the United States, with the self-evident “preference for men” at job fairs, the predominance of male leaders in politics and business, and the fact that women are expected to do more of the household work. Unfortunately, in my search for literature on the topic of gender differences of China in COVID-19, this field of research is empty.

Reference

  1. Bateman, Nicole, and Martha Ross. “Why has COVID-19 been especially harmful for working women.” Brookings [Journal] 14 (2020).
  2. Albanesi, Stefania, and Jiyeon Kim. “Effects of the COVID-19 recession on the US labor market: Occupation, family, and gender.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 35.3 (2021): 3-24.
  3. Flor, Luisa S., et al. “Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators: a comprehensive review of data from March, 2020, to September, 2021.” The Lancet (2022).
  4. Hennekam, Sophie, and Yuliya Shymko. “Coping with the COVID‐19 crisis: Force majeure and gender performativity.” Gender, Work & Organization 27.5 (2020): 788-803.
  5. Sevilla, Almudena, and Sarah Smith. “Baby steps: The gender division of childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Oxford Review of Economic Policy 36.Supplement_1 (2020): S169-S186.

A Seat at the Table

December 8, 2022 /

Although women are increasing their presence within the work force, they are still notoriously underrepresented within leadership positions. History is to blame for the late entry of females, however there are still numerous factors that explain the low numbers today. Theories such as the “glass ceiling”, the “glass-cliff” the “sticky floor”, and even the “maternal wall” come to mind as this constant battle that women have to face. Yet in the past few years, especially in light of the recent social activism, we start to see more women break these barriers and overcome these limitations. 

Sticky Floor and Glass Ceiling

Women already tend to have difficulties entering certain career fields, especially those that are already dominated by males. While they are likely to be accepted to entry-level jobs, advancing beyond that is improbable. This is a reflection of the “sticky floor” effect, where females have low mobility in within their career fields and are unlikely to be able to rise to management positions. 

If they are able to overcome this effect, women are then faced with the looming “glass ceiling”. This is another coined term to represent the barriers that females are faced with. In a way, this is a continuation of the “sticky floor”, but accounts for all the future steps beyond that initial leap. Women are able to see these open positions of higher status but are unable to truly achieve them.

Glass Cliff

In the cases that women do achieve these higher ranks, data shows that they are typically appointed to them in moments of crisis. This is often categorized as a downturn in company performance and finances. If the said company continues on track with that trend, the blame will fall on the female leader. This result is then used to justify why women are less likely to be appointed to higher rankings.

Maternal Wall 

The “maternal wall” refers to the more social aspects of gender bias. It is the idea that women are not able to handle to combination of work and family life. This is especially found for women who, for example, take maternity leave or have moments of putting their family first. They are often viewed as less competent, and therefore not as committed to their careers. This term is also used to refer to character assumptions, where mothers are not seen as not capable enough to complete high risk jobs, especially in leadership roles. The attributes that are typically associated with motherhood are seen as a less desirable trait in a firm. 

Policy Recommendations

Research has found that certain countries had begun implementing laws to enforce gender equality. The national government enforces these rulings, and companies face a penalty if the demand is not met in a timely manner. It would be ideal for the United States to adapt some of these methods, however due to the political climate there is sure to be backlash against it.

This is why it is now up to companies to execute these procedures within their own walls. Individual company policies could be set up to create a healthier environment not only for women, but their entire work force. They can take the steps to host diversity, equity, and inclusion seminars in order to address the biases on all levels. Another step would be to acknowledge the difficulties employees have when it comes to balancing work and life. An example of this would be offering a more flexible schedule for them to choose from. This can benefit the company as a whole as people are finally able to commit themselves to other realms, thus producing a happier work environment.

Most importantly, solving this problem starts from a young age. An example would be to encourage more girls to take the leap and start pursuing more male dominated fields. With more young ladies being introduced to subjects like STEM, their confidence to succeed in the work force will thrive. Promoting positive mindsets in both boys and girls alike is key to future equality.

Looking towards the future

As of 2020, only 2% of black women in undergrad earn a degree in economics. The double-glass ceiling is something unique that women of color have to face, dealing with the intersectionality of bias. Taking this class was still inspiring though, as through our research there is seems to be a shift in dynamics. Even through the set-up of the classroom, there are people willing to take the steps to educate themselves about these problems. For future research I would love to see how women CEOs, especially of Fortune 500 companies, have been addressing gender equality. If they are using their status to help continue to diversify their boardrooms. To take it a step further, it would also be interesting to see how these CEOs are able to manage their family dynamics. Seeing how these top leaders are apple to approach this “maternal wall” would be inspiring to lower rank females on how they are able to juggle it all. In all women continuously face barriers against them, especially in a corporate climate. But as more people become aware of these issues, more will take the steps to make it right.

Sources

panelChristyGlassa12EnvelopeAlisonCookb3Envelope, Author links open overlay, et al. “Leading at the Top: Understanding Women’s Challenges above the Glass Ceiling.” The Leadership Quarterly, JAI, 9 Oct. 2015, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984315001034. 

Bruckmüller S, Branscombe NR. The glass cliff: when and why women are selected as leaders in crisis contexts. Br J Soc Psychol. 2010 Sep;49(Pt 3):433-51. doi: 10.1348/014466609X466594. Epub 2009 Aug 18. PMID: 19691915.

“Modern Family Index Shows Motherhood Penalty in American Workplace.” Bright Horizons®, https://www.brighthorizons.com/newsroom/modern-family-index-2018. 

Ryan, Michelle K., and S. Alexander Haslam. “The Glass Cliff: Evidence That Women Are over-Represented in Precarious Leadership Positions.” British Journal of Management, vol. 16, no. 2, 2005, pp. 81–90., https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00433.x. 

Rahman, Shakil, et al. “African- American Women and Leadership Positions: An Analysis of Young Adults.” Quarterly Review of Business Disciplines, vol. 2, no. 4, Feb. 2016, pp. 313–324. 

Terjesen, Siri, and Val Singh. “Female Presence on Corporate Boards: A Multi-Country Study of Environmental Context – Journal of Business Ethics.” SpringerLink, Springer Netherlands, 16 Jan. 2008, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-007-9656-1. 

Balancing an Unbalanced Pandemic

December 8, 2022 /

By: Anthony Daher

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unbalanced impact on women in several ways. Not only did many women put themselves and their loved one’s home at risk due to working on the frontlines during the initial wave as essential workers, but many women also had to take on completely new duties in comparison to men during these times. The responsibilities involved homeschooling and caregiving obligations which only added more burdens which interrupted their work, in some cases resulting with women leaving the workforce entirely. Imbalances that were already prominent prior to the pandemic were only amplified where we saw a much larger share of women, specifically those of color and who are low-income, needing to quit their jobs, along with taking on additional caregiving responsibilities and household duties. A survey in the United States informed 54% of black women were either laid off, discharged from their work temporarily, or received pay cuts while only 27% of white men faced the same issues. As many schools and business were re-opening, burdens were still placed, as childcare was still required from parents, restricting the ability of many mothers to work the same amount as they were before the pandemic. For example, some women may have been dealing with a COVID-related illnesses for themselves or family members, some still may have had to manage additional childcare responsibilities, and some were dealing with a major toll on their mental health. In another sample, examining the responsibility of home-schooling and house-hold duties, we saw 10% of women leave their job, compared to 2% of men leave their job. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some jobs may not be no longer available for women, some lost income due to scaling back their workload, causing many women to miss out on potential career development opportunities. However not all hope was lost as policies such as the child tax credit and paid leave in the enacted federal stimulus bill supported women in taking care of their families, as they received much needed health care which helped balance the responsibilities of their family and their work during the peak of the pandemic. 

A possible policy implication, aimed to fix the gender inequality in the workspace would be to apply guidelines that regulate the percentage of people in each sex that can be laid off. For example, if there we 6 employees to be laid off, of those 6, must be 3 men and 3 must be women. However, if there was a case where 7 people were to be laid off, either 3 men and 4 women would be laid off, or 4 men and 3 women would be laid off, opposed to laying off 6 women and 1 man. This will help combat the disproportion of more women losing their jobs due to covid.

The most detrimental consequence women would face without intervention in my opinion would be the loss in their career advancement opportunities due to taking on the burdens that took place at home. In the study mentioned above, compared to the 2% of men who left their job to help at home, we saw a much greater 10% of women leave their job. If paid leave and child tax credit was not included in the federal stimulus bill, I believe the numbers shown in the statistic above would double. Since the goal is to terminate the gender imbalance which was heightened to new levels, women and men must be given equal opportunities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While many would say the pandemic highlighted the gender inequality comprised within the workforce and at home, I composed a couple of questions to help test this hypothesis. In my first question, when referring to the women who believe they are dealing with all the childcare and house-hold duties, do you think the husbands think they are helping or are even taking this into consideration? In my next question, I wondered what would happen if the roles comprised within the household duties switched? If more men than women lost their jobs and were required to play a much greater role in household duties and childcare, how would they react? I believe these are the types of questions men do not wish to answer and keep the gender imbalance consistent and under the covers.  

Since both of my parents are surgeons, due to my mother owning a private practice, only my father was considered a frontline worker. This meant my mother’s practice was temporarily closed while my father had gone to work every day. Because of the stimulus received, a lot of stress was taken off my mother’s shoulders as she thought she would endure a long period of time without making money. Since she owned her practice, there never was a fear of losing her job. Personally, I believe my family was very lucky during this time our case was extremely unlikely with other families.

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Sources

Power, K. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 16(1), 67-73.

O’Sullivan, K., Rock, N., Burke, L., Boyle, N., Joksimovic, N., Foley, H., & Clark, S. (2022). Gender differences in the psychosocial functioning of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carlson, D. L., Petts, R., & Pepin, J. R. (2020, May 6). Changes in Parents’ Domestic Labor During the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

Gender Gap in STEM Education

December 8, 2022 / / 0 Comments

By: Drew Britt

In the United States and the rest of the world today, there continues to be a large gender gap in STEM education. Through my research, I found that women are significantly underrepresented in STEM courses, majors, and occupations, and in most cases, the gap continues to grow. While most of the statistics surrounding this gender disparity relate to higher education and STEM careers, the problems that cause this increasing gender gap begin as early as middle school. Beyond that, women also face many challenges in college and in their professional life which cause them to either pursue other college degrees or leave their STEM jobs. These factors include but are not limited to, gender bias, unequal opportunity, wage gap, stereotypes, and hiring malpractices.

Policies other than those that currently exist such as diversity training must be put in place in order to close the gender gap. A possible policy would be to set quotas on the number of women STEM businesses must employ in their company or in a given year. If there are not enough women to fulfill these quotas, it will encourage more women to pursue the STEM field knowing there are opportunities out there for them. Along with these quotas, a policy should be set in place for females to be paid equally to their male counterparts if they are performing the same role in the STEM field.

If we don’t act now, we will face several consequences for having such a large gender gap in STEM education. If we continue to have qualified women drop out of the STEM pipeline or choose other fields because they feel they don’t belong, technology and engineering companies will lack a female perspective on products and in turn, fail to meet the needs of female consumers. In addition, the United States in particular needs as many women in STEM as possible because we must increase the number of students graduating with a STEM degree by 33% to keep up with the demand for professionals in STEM fields (Master et al., 2020).

  1. What policies have been put in place so far that have helped close the gender gap in STEM education and careers?
  2. How can high schools, universities, and businesses be incentivized to promote and create a welcoming environment for female participation in STEM to expedite the closing of the gender gap?

The gender gap in STEM education is frustrating to me because I have two sisters who are pursuing STEM majors. It is unfair for them to have to face significantly more challenges in their education and career than their male counterparts solely because they are women. Although I am not going into the STEM field, my research has given me new perspectives which will hope me promote female inclusion in my own field of study as I continue through my career.

Throughout my research, I have learned that although there has been an increase in the gender gap in some instances, we as a country and world are still far from where we need to be. The perspectives of women in STEM are extremely important as diversity in the workplace leads to higher production. In addition, qualified and educated women in STEM deserve to be compensated equally to their male counterparts as their contributions also hold extreme value in the field. While it may be easy for those not involved in STEM to see the gender gap in the field, it exists and will only continue to have a negative impact on our daily lives if we do not work to close the gap.

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Sources

Master, Allison, and Andrew N. Meltzoff. (2020). “Cultural Stereotypes and Sense of Belonging Contribute to Gender Gaps in STEM”. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology 12 (1):152-98.

Moss-Racusin, Corinne A. (2018). “Gender Bias Produces Gender Gaps in STEM Engagement.” Sex Roles 79, no. 11–12 (December 2018): 651–70.

Friedmann, Enav, and Dorit Efrat-Treister. (2022). “Gender Bias in Stem Hiring: Implicit In-Group Gender Favoritism Among Men Managers.” Gender & Society,  089124322211379.

Nadeem, Reem. (2021). “STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic Diversity.” Pew Research Center Science & Society.

Sarah D. Herrmann, Robert Mark Adelman, Jessica E. Bodford, Oliver Graudejus, Morris A. Okun & Virginia S. Y. Kwan. (2016). “The Effects of a Female Role Model on Academic Performance and Persistence of Women in STEM Courses.”  Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 38:5, 258-268.

“83% of women leave their STEM careers: We’re changing that.” (2015).

“The stem gap: Women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” (n.d.). AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881.

Bureau, U. C. (n.d.). “Women are nearly half of u. S. Workforce but only 27% of stem workers.” Census.Gov. González-Pérez, S., Martínez-Martínez, M., Rey-Paredes, V., & Cifre, E. (2022). “I am done with this! Women dropping out of engineering majors.” Frontiers in Psychology, 13.

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