When trying to determine sex segregation and the role that it plays at ASU I try to start with the areas that are a part of my own education. I am a Justice major with an English minor so it seems that most of the teachers that I have had in my most recent years here have been females. I cannot really see many other trends in that sense however, as I have had a healthy mix of male and female professors thus far in my college career. I think that it is obvious that this sex segregation exists in a lot of job fields, for example construction, auto care, among other things for men, and daycare jobs, nannying, and many more fields for women. It is not a given that these specific jobs will be only one or the other, but the trends tend to go in that direction, as explained in one of the videos from this section.
For me it is hard to attempt to visualize the factor of socialization in my own home because I am not accustomed to analyzing myself in the microscope. My father is a mechanic which I guess could be scene a a job that is usually men, but his work life never affected me in a way where i wanted to become exactly that. My mother works in the recreation department for the City of Chandler along with myself, and the mix of men and women in the job environment there is about as diverse as it can be. My home life, to me, doesn't seem to have affected the way i was socialized, and both of my parents provided for the family with jobs of their own. My father made more money I believe but this was he had opportunity to get various certifications for his career and obtain raises. Even with things like work and school, in the places where I am at least, gender roles are not blatantly obvious.
I believe the argument about the wage gap and the rate of job loss is kind of like comparing apples to oranges. They are both able to be tied in with one another, but they should not be looked at side by side. The wage gap is obviously unfair, with women earning less in the same positions that men hold. The idea that men having a higher job loss rate is true, yet irrelevant to the initial argument about the wage difference. In one of the videos a man mentioned that women's wages were increasing faster than that of men, but this is an invalid point, because if two people are equally qualified there should be no difference in the first place. Women should be, and should have always been, making the same amount of money as men, because if they are not, which they still are not, that makes this a patriarchy.
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You make very good points however I disagree that you cannot compare wages of men and women side by side. I say this because if you and I are equally as qualified for the job why should the man make more money? Why does the woman have to make more sacrifices?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with what one of the ladies said in that interview because some women will work less hours to care for children and they will take FMLA to be with their children thus resulting in lesser income. But then again, this is our traditional gender role that continues to be reinforced in our society through the media and our culture. In additon, some women refuse to acknowledge that they cannot do it all themselves. We are working harder, making bigger sacrifices and continuing to meet our obligations in the home and at work because this is what is expected of working women and it is unfair that the same is not expected of men.
Now, if men and women made equal wages, this would probably encourage more fathers to take the non-traditional roles in the home because the wife would be receieving adequate compensation for the same work as their male counterparts. I don't forsee a shift in traditioinal roles because the same ones are continously reinforced over and over again in our culture and through the media outlets. They know we can easily identify with those roles so they have no reason to change what they are doing thus making it more difficult for us to change the way we live. So as long as the traditional roles don't change neithe will working women's second and third shift expectations.
I didn't compare women and men side by side, I compared wage gap and job loss side by side. Also I was on the side of the women, you can see that by reading my last paragraph. I do not think women should make more sacrifices, and you can see that because i clearly stated "...if two people are equally qualified there should be no difference in the first place. Women should be, and should have always been, making the same amount of money as men, because if they are not, which they still are not, that makes this a patriarchy." See?
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