Women and men's prisons differ in ways that go right along with the current pop culture stereotypes. In the past women were forced to do work that would be considered very ladylike. They were forced to do things like cooking and cleaning. They had to sew, garden, and prepare meals for others. This is the type of work that they thought that women should be doing. Giving the women jobs like these forced others to follow in the paths of stereotypes and believe the things that they heard and learned about in popular culture as well as the media. Men's prisons were full of manual labor. They were in an "Auburn" system in which they were very militarized and used beatings as a means of punishment. This type of system made prisoners almost slave, but in a military form as they were forced to walk around in tight conformity, never looking each other in the eyes. The women prisons were usually not associated with beatings, however there was a lot of talk of rape going on at these prisons all of the time. Male guards used to rape the female prisoners because there was a lack of judgement and respect related with prisons of the past.
Reformers often tried to fix things in these prisons by comparing the facilities with other state facilities, but serious changes to the systems were not made until the 1900's when ethical laws were set into place about how a prisoner could be treated. Many instances of different treatment for male and female prisoners were scattered throughout the United States. There were also several different types of prison systems depending on the geographic location within the U.S. Now prisons are privatized and ran independently with little interruption for the state. Prisons, as well as most other things, have fallen victim to the capitalist ways and are now seen as a high profit maker. Unfortunately.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Unit C Blog #14
Britton's theory of gendered organization involves the wage gap between working women and men in this country most notably in the same jobs. Britton talks about how this injustice occurs at the level of structure which means that these particular disadvantages for women begin to occur when the job descriptions and titles are created. The jobs are structured to pay men more than women for the same jobs as we were able to learn in the powerpoint. The Power point and the book showed us that women in certain fields such as women lawyers make only 69% of what men lawyers made within the same companies, and women corrections officers made only upwards of 80% of what men corrections officers made. Britton found that this wage gap has existed since jobs wer first created because women have never had equal opportunities to make the same kind of money that men have had. This shows that the level of injustice occuring in everday life is immense, as well as the fact that gendered organization is occuring on a daily basis.
Injustices with the pay of genders from one position to another has been the central theme of the class thus far and for good reason. Britton shows us reasons for her theory on gendered organization but that does not settle the entire case. This type of gendered reasoning is hurting our country because it shows that we still primarily favor the white angolo saxon protestants, or WASPs, and that while we have come a long way from our country's begginings, we still have not come far enough to give equal and fair rights to all genders and races. For a country that is known as the land of the free, plenty of people still struggle everyday to obtain equal pay for doing the same job as the white man.
Injustices with the pay of genders from one position to another has been the central theme of the class thus far and for good reason. Britton shows us reasons for her theory on gendered organization but that does not settle the entire case. This type of gendered reasoning is hurting our country because it shows that we still primarily favor the white angolo saxon protestants, or WASPs, and that while we have come a long way from our country's begginings, we still have not come far enough to give equal and fair rights to all genders and races. For a country that is known as the land of the free, plenty of people still struggle everyday to obtain equal pay for doing the same job as the white man.
Unit C Blog #13
Britton's comment on the stereotype of a prison guard in the popular media is a reflection of what people see in movies. A large burly man who would be willing to fight if the need came up. In reality correction officers as well as prison guards are as diverse as can be. A woman may have been considered non traditional in the role of a prison guard in the past but now things have changed. I personally have experienced the diversity of these types of guards firsthand, and the mix of women and men was as close to 50/50 as I have seen. There was nothing really traditional about anything physically involving the officers. There were fat officers, skinny officers, tall ones, short ones, men, women. The mix was fairly even. The reason that the diversity is not so common knowledge is because of the way that the media generalizes and stereotypes the idea of corrections officers to the general public. Like Britton said, when people think of these positions they think what the media has trained them to think, professional wrestling type men with short fuses who can rough up the inmates.
When people think of women in these positions, at least in the past, the media has led them to believe that the women in this field are muscular women with short hair and short fuses as well. Often times they are portrayed as lesbians and very manly. The media needs to do a better job of fairly representing the work force in physical labor fields because they way they represent these things now leads people to believe that these stereotypes should be appreciated, and that certain genders do not belong in certain fields.
When people think of women in these positions, at least in the past, the media has led them to believe that the women in this field are muscular women with short hair and short fuses as well. Often times they are portrayed as lesbians and very manly. The media needs to do a better job of fairly representing the work force in physical labor fields because they way they represent these things now leads people to believe that these stereotypes should be appreciated, and that certain genders do not belong in certain fields.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Unit C Blog # 12
I believe that this type of segregation in the work force exists because the people in our country have been socialized into thinking that traditionally mean belong in the fields of manual labor and technological things, and women belong in work force such as nursing, child care, secretary and so on. The truth however is that men and women should be able to freely move between jobs and fields of interest without a hassle and with even pay. Who is to say that one gender belongs in a certain field while another does not belong at all. People have so many different passions in life and it is sad that these passions are subjected to scrutiny by people who think with a traditional, in the box type of mentality.
Women gain so many advantages by pursuing careers in non traditional roles because the sky is the limit. The women that follow their own path and decide to take on a career that would otherwise be considered a "mans job" have the advantage of breaking through these gender assignments and just like the video showed, these women are seriously enjoying their jobs in fields like mechanics, aviation and so on. They have the ability to bring another gender's perspective to the table and this proves helpful all around in the job field.
I would say that men do not necessarily "gain" by having women in the workforce economically, but they do however gain the ability to grow socially. What I mean by that is they are able to get new insights and this improves their ability to perform in certain areas of the work force. Our nation and communities as a whole most certainly gain from equal access to jobs in any market because it shows that we are a nation that holds no gender barriers, which is a problem that we are trying to escape from currently.
Women in roles such as police work and fire work certainly make the work force a more diverse place, thus making the jobs that these people perform better all around. The views of women in this job, and qualities that women naturally have helps out the job as a whole. The skills could come in any form and could help out with things such as hostage negotiations or detective work. This is not the limit in any sense however, as seen by the female police woman in the video who is an expert sniper on the SWAT team. Once these gender roles are broken, jobs will be open to finding women that are just as good if not better at men in all the traditional roles men are credited with such as strength, technology etc. Overall, the nation definitely gains from having an equal work force, and there is no arguing that.
Women gain so many advantages by pursuing careers in non traditional roles because the sky is the limit. The women that follow their own path and decide to take on a career that would otherwise be considered a "mans job" have the advantage of breaking through these gender assignments and just like the video showed, these women are seriously enjoying their jobs in fields like mechanics, aviation and so on. They have the ability to bring another gender's perspective to the table and this proves helpful all around in the job field.
I would say that men do not necessarily "gain" by having women in the workforce economically, but they do however gain the ability to grow socially. What I mean by that is they are able to get new insights and this improves their ability to perform in certain areas of the work force. Our nation and communities as a whole most certainly gain from equal access to jobs in any market because it shows that we are a nation that holds no gender barriers, which is a problem that we are trying to escape from currently.
Women in roles such as police work and fire work certainly make the work force a more diverse place, thus making the jobs that these people perform better all around. The views of women in this job, and qualities that women naturally have helps out the job as a whole. The skills could come in any form and could help out with things such as hostage negotiations or detective work. This is not the limit in any sense however, as seen by the female police woman in the video who is an expert sniper on the SWAT team. Once these gender roles are broken, jobs will be open to finding women that are just as good if not better at men in all the traditional roles men are credited with such as strength, technology etc. Overall, the nation definitely gains from having an equal work force, and there is no arguing that.
Unit B Blog #10
The women in Chaudry's study had to adapt to many forms of survival tactics after welfare did not always come through. When these women did not have enough money to pay for overpriced childcare many times they had to turn to kin care. Kin care works better for some than others, because some families are more willing to help out their "kin" than others. In the book we heard stories about women on welfare providing kin care for other women struggling to get by and in some cases this worked out for the working mothers, but in other cases the kin care providers wanted money to provide the babysitting jobs that these mothers already could not afford. This put these women in a terrible situation, and often a situation in which they had to turn to taking time off work to drive their children from one place to another, perhaps from one cousins house to an elderly grandma in order to keep their children supervised for the length of an entire day.
In many cases the welfare that these working mothers, often single, were obtaining was very unstable to say the least. This forced the mothers to adapt in ways which would often result in putting stress on their work life. The welfare system failed more than a few mothers, as some would obtain jobs that the system would consider to have enough income to no longer require government assistance. As we saw in some of the child care videos however, this did not always mean, in fact it almost never meant that these mothers no longer needed the assistance. The welfare system also had a way of providing about half the time, ironically when the mothers seemed to need it least, and would fail to come through with a payment when the working mothers needed the money most, to pay for child care and other services.
Our current system of government assistance and the poverty line does not take into account many challenges that single mothers or even lower income earning families face. This inconsistency has forced many of these working people to adapt to life without assistance, and while many of these families would not need a handout, our social system has a way of keeping the poor poor, and the rich even richer. It is kind of like the opposite of the American Dream, where hard work pays off in wealth, because for these working class individuals, their strenuous manual labor translated to minimum wage earnings and more struggles for families attempting to raise their kids and put food on the table. Our welfare system could do a lot more in ensuring that these people, and most importantly the children have an equal and fair opportunity to food and shelter. The videos for the Unit as well as various other videos on YouTube and other video streaming websites show effectively how a halfway home or a homeless shelter is almost more dangerous and hard to survive then life on the streets.
We have a serious problem in this country. That problem is our inability to help out the less fortunate and get them off the streets. No person would wish for a life like this and for the land of "freedom and opportunity" to be unable to provide such things as help with rent, childcare, and other amenities is unfair. Not everybody is lucky enough to receive help from family and friends, and a lot of mothers are left stranded with no father to help them with the raising of a child or children every day. This sets the children up for a life of poverty to, as many teens in inner cities and heavy populated areas are forced to drop out of school to obtain minimum wage jobs to help out with bills. This does not even take into consideration ridiculously high health care bills that working class families with no insurance have to deal with.
Chaudry suggests more ways in which our system can help these working class mothers with drop in child care programs, government run child care facilities that women in the working class could utilize, and other options for these mothers. All of these suggestions would go a long way in transforming our system from one that has seemed to lose focus on the poor and struggling individuals and give them a chance to provide for their families in the best way they can. We all need a little help sometimes, and as long as their is even the slight chance that I may require assistance as well one day, I do not mind putting my tax dollars towards programs to help out the less fortunate individuals in this country.
In many cases the welfare that these working mothers, often single, were obtaining was very unstable to say the least. This forced the mothers to adapt in ways which would often result in putting stress on their work life. The welfare system failed more than a few mothers, as some would obtain jobs that the system would consider to have enough income to no longer require government assistance. As we saw in some of the child care videos however, this did not always mean, in fact it almost never meant that these mothers no longer needed the assistance. The welfare system also had a way of providing about half the time, ironically when the mothers seemed to need it least, and would fail to come through with a payment when the working mothers needed the money most, to pay for child care and other services.
Our current system of government assistance and the poverty line does not take into account many challenges that single mothers or even lower income earning families face. This inconsistency has forced many of these working people to adapt to life without assistance, and while many of these families would not need a handout, our social system has a way of keeping the poor poor, and the rich even richer. It is kind of like the opposite of the American Dream, where hard work pays off in wealth, because for these working class individuals, their strenuous manual labor translated to minimum wage earnings and more struggles for families attempting to raise their kids and put food on the table. Our welfare system could do a lot more in ensuring that these people, and most importantly the children have an equal and fair opportunity to food and shelter. The videos for the Unit as well as various other videos on YouTube and other video streaming websites show effectively how a halfway home or a homeless shelter is almost more dangerous and hard to survive then life on the streets.
We have a serious problem in this country. That problem is our inability to help out the less fortunate and get them off the streets. No person would wish for a life like this and for the land of "freedom and opportunity" to be unable to provide such things as help with rent, childcare, and other amenities is unfair. Not everybody is lucky enough to receive help from family and friends, and a lot of mothers are left stranded with no father to help them with the raising of a child or children every day. This sets the children up for a life of poverty to, as many teens in inner cities and heavy populated areas are forced to drop out of school to obtain minimum wage jobs to help out with bills. This does not even take into consideration ridiculously high health care bills that working class families with no insurance have to deal with.
Chaudry suggests more ways in which our system can help these working class mothers with drop in child care programs, government run child care facilities that women in the working class could utilize, and other options for these mothers. All of these suggestions would go a long way in transforming our system from one that has seemed to lose focus on the poor and struggling individuals and give them a chance to provide for their families in the best way they can. We all need a little help sometimes, and as long as their is even the slight chance that I may require assistance as well one day, I do not mind putting my tax dollars towards programs to help out the less fortunate individuals in this country.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Unit B Blog #7
As far as the readings are concerned the main factor that contributed to Julia's inability to find childcare was the lack of any help or alternate source of income. She was raising kids on her own because the father ran out and was the sole breadwinner for her family. The fact that she received absolutely no childcare did not make things any easier. She was attempting to make something of herself by attending college for an associates degree while working at the same time. The instability in her personal life as well as her inability to find a descent paying job lead to the inconsistencies of her child care. She relied on her family such as her boyfriend when the kids were first born, and when he left that forced her to find another way to acquire childcare. She split time watching the children with her sister who moved into her place for a while. Julia and her sister both worked at a local fast food place but they were not bringing in that much money per week. The arrangement stopped working out and Julia got a new job and began to have her cousin help her out with childcare. This was another change for the small children as they now had been with their third childcare provider in their earliest years. Julia would next begin to use agencies through welfare to obtain childcare, but this would fall through as well because welfare often were late with the payments. Julia struggled because she could not find a job that would pay her a wage to live on, and also because welfare was extremely unstable.
The case study about Julia and Jacquelyn is similar to the video about the family with three children that had a scholarship through United Way for daycare payments. This scholarship would be taken from them when the mother received a raise at work, but the raise at work was not significant enough to replace the scholarship, and the family was no longer able to afford it. They now relied on a substitute teacher who would be called into work fairly often. When she did get called into work the kids would be taken care of by very elderly and dependent grandparents. This created much instability for these children and the family's low paying jobs created more conflict in the situation.
The case study about Julia and Jacquelyn is similar to the video about the family with three children that had a scholarship through United Way for daycare payments. This scholarship would be taken from them when the mother received a raise at work, but the raise at work was not significant enough to replace the scholarship, and the family was no longer able to afford it. They now relied on a substitute teacher who would be called into work fairly often. When she did get called into work the kids would be taken care of by very elderly and dependent grandparents. This created much instability for these children and the family's low paying jobs created more conflict in the situation.
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