4. Women’s Labor Force Participation
¾ of women work full time
Women constitute 46.8% of labor force
Gender Wage Gap
Occupational Segregation by Gender
Horizontal segregation
“Pink-Collar” jobs
Vertical segregation
5. Glass Ceiling
In 2006, 10
Fortune 500
companies (2 %)
had women
CEOs or
presidents
6. Globalization & the economy
Globalization:
New technologies
Shift from manufacturing to service-sector work
Transnational Organizations (e.g., World Bank,
International Monetary Fund)
“military-industrial complex”
7. Household Labor
Marxist analysis of women’s work in the
home
Capitalism 101: workers (proletariat), surplus
value, accumulated wealth
“reproduce the labor power”
“wages for housework”
8. Legalities
Equal Pay Act 1963
Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(early 1970s)
Court interpretations
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act 2009
9. Legalities: Sexual Harassment
1986 Supreme Court: Sexual Harassment is
form of sex discrimination
Quid Pro Quo
Hostile Work Environment
11. Affirmative Action
When applicants have equal merits/assets,
affirmative action policies encourage the
hiring of women and people of color
Myth of meritocracy
Benefits of Affirmative Action
12. Welfare
Image of the “welfare queen”
The Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Act of 1996
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
5 year limit on assistance
Work required
13. Welfare
Child care
Domestic violence
Disability
Feminization of poverty
Living wage
Education
Health insurance