Even though today more women have joined the workforce and often do the same jobs as men, women get paid less. Women who get paid less in the workplace, despite doing the same job as a man, experience what is called the “pay gap”. The pay gap, also known as the “gender wage gap”, is the earning difference between a woman and man. Men earn an extra $1,356 a month or $650,000 a year between the ages of 25 and 65 (Henslin, 2010, p. 316). Now if the male is also a college graduate the pay gap will increase to $2,482 a month and total of $1,192,000 during their whole career (Henslin, 2010, p. 316).
Outline and explain the reasons for the rise in single parent families in UK society British people are increasingly likely to live in single-parent families, stay at home for longer, marry later and struggle to afford a house. The Office of National Statistics said children in the UK were three times more likely to live in one-parent households than they were in 1972. According to the ONS, since 1971 the proportion of all people living in "nuclear" family households of married couples with children has fallen from 52% to 37%. There are several reasons to why there is a rise in single parent families. More children are born in Britain today outside of marriage than in most other European countries.
Gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life? Some sociologists would argue that a number of changes have taken place in gender roles and relationships within families. On the other hand there are some sociologists that there have few if any changes in gender roles and relationships within families. In 1973 Young and Willmott carried out some research and came to the conclusion that by the 1970’s the roles of the husbands and wives in the family have become more symmetrical. During their research they found out that in 72% of cases men actually did housework other than the washing up every week.
Conjugal role is the term used in describing the delegation of tasks in the family. Bott divides this into two categories namely segregated roles in where the husband and wife have specific roles such as cooking for the wife and repairing for the husbands. The other category is joint roles in where both husband and wives share the domestic tasks equally. The view that domestic labor is becoming more equal can be seen from the work of Wilmott and Young in their study of the symmetrical family. In their research they found that 72% of men help with housework at least once a week.
This paper will start with the most common beliefs for the gender-related pay differentials, and then look at how a society’s culture plays its part in the gender wage gap. A study breaking down explanation s for the gender wage gap into three levels to identify how culture plays a part on an individual level, an occupational level, and an organization-wide or industry level (Grosso & Smith, 2007). Then, another study discussed in this paper considers the correlation between the amounts of housework males and females are tasked with and how traditional gender roles at home relate to the work place. The study gives some insight on how traditional gender roles translate to a working environment and contributes to the gender wage gap (Chichilnisky & Frederiksen, 2008). Another study discussed in this paper takes a look at how a job segregation and stereotypes affect the career choices women make and how a
In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau looked at single parent families. There was a tremendous difference between the families maintained by mother and by father. With children under 18 the mother maintained 85.2% while the father maintained 11% (“Working Parents”, 2012). As you can see there is a major difference in these two areas. In 2006, the proportion of mothers with newborns that were in the workforce was at 57% (“Working Parents”, 2012).
There are many theories to explain the existence of gender division in employment. Underpinning explanation of gender segregation in the labor market are issues concerning male power and gender assumptions of the division of labor (Bagilhole, 1994; Crompton, 1999). Gender segregation in employment is of concern for two measures quite aside from the facts of quality of opportunity: segregation into different areas of work remains a key issue that contributes to the gender in earnings (Forth, 2002). Later, the studies focus on the issue of masculinity which has been a re-occurrent topic in most debates. Masculinity is a subjective term, and in most cases it is influenced by one's perception and culture (Cullins, V.2012).
In a study conducted by the Future Foundation (2002), Young and Wilmot's theory was backed up by the conclusions that 75% of women now did less housework than their mothers, and that similarly, 60% of men did more chores than their fathers. This evidence supports the rise of the symmetrical family, in which the division of chores, childcare and paid work is split evenly between the man and women, however it has been noted that this change is most noticeable in the middle class. This may have become popular due to the change in women's position in society over the years, such as the ability to
Abstract Gender issues have become a topical issue of late with various groups advocating for gender equality and equity. Problems associated with gender stereotypes have also tended to feature strongly. This article looks at the subject of gender stereotypes in the wider society that we live in, its impact and possible ways of changing peoples’ mindsets. This article will also be supported by pictorial presentations based on some newspaper and magazine cuttings. What are gender stereotypes and how are they conveyed in our society?
They point out that: empowering women is also an indispensable tool for advancing development and reducing poverty. Equal pay for equal work is one of the areas where gender equality is rarely seen; all too often women are paid less than men for doing the same work. This is one of the reasons that the majority of the world’s poor are women: around 70 per cent of the people who live in extreme poverty, on less than one dollar a day, are girls and women. Suffrage, the right to vote, is another area of gender equality that still does not extend to all the women in the world. Saudi Arabia does not give women the right to vote; in the USA right wing commentators say that women should never have been given the right to vote.