My first three classes I ever took at Arizona State University were taught by women (who looked more than a little frazzled).One was a women studies course so it didn’t surprise me and the other two were English and history but as I progressed from taking 100 levels to 300 hundred levels I saw the amount of female teachers dwindle most of the professors where older men or PhD students that were men, I also saw that the students responded to male teachers a little better than they would female teachers. What struck me was a difficult professor that was female was a witch but a male professor was just difficult. I don’t see sex segregation that much in the staffing departments or student workers in fact I have had more female TA’s than male. I read in Women’s Health magazine a few months back that women are becoming more educated and are more likely to hold jobs than their male counterparts these days and it is getting more difficult for women to find a significant other equal to her education. Good news in some ways, right?
I was lucky enough to have a very open minded liberal house hold when it came to gender roles. I am also Italian so that means Mama ruled the house with an iron fist, when it came to me they didn’t really give me a lot of dolls and ‘nurturing’ toys like a kitchen set I more often got legos, books, and coloring books instead. My parents worked a lot so both of them split the chores and expected me to help out as well. In that sense I was very lucky and didn’t have gender roles forced upon me I did however hear ‘act like a little lady’ a lot when we would have guests which meant be polite don’t talk a lot and smile so I guess we did have a certain set of gender rules, that or my parents just wanted me to stop yakking away. When I got older gender roles started becoming more prominent by ways of dress, hair ,and make up this didn’t come from my parents so much as my friends who where all discover boys and stealing their mom’s mascara.
What is so crazy is that women may be getting paid less but women are not losing their jobs at the same rate in this economy. Women are taking more jobs to earn wages to keep their family afloat their husbands who work mainly in construction, engineering, and financial institutions which are getting hit the hardest. Women who work in health care and more government jobs (teachers) are still in demand and are not being put off because they are needed. Women work more often in jobs that are female dominated and do not realize they aren’t getting paid well enough, women in the areas getting hit harder aren’t being paid what their co workers are so employers may not cut them as quickly as someone they pay more. This doesn’t touch on the benefits package that many women do not receive because either they don’t make enough or they are part time. What’s unfair here is that since women aren’t getting paid enough at their main job is they have to take second jobs to keep their family clothed and fed while their husbands look for new work. Women still are feeling the economic problems in our country and we are lucky enough to find second jobs or keep our same ones but we still aren’t being compensated enough for a hard days work.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteYour photo certainly captures the way I feel many times. With the pressure of teaching, meeting students, preparing classes, committee work and publishing, the lack of time to focus on one project at a time is frustrating. The different way that women professors and men professors are treated is quite distinct. None of my male colleagues are ever addressed as Mr. but always as Professor. It appears perfectly acceptable for male professors to wear shorts to class but I have seen very few female professors willing to do so because they have enough difficulty gaining respect from their students. Students are more likely to comment on women professors’ clothing, mannerisms and do interpret the same behavior as different than men.
I am always amazed at the degree of sex segregation that continues at the university. There are several fields that are still dominated by men, such as business and engineering. There are also fields that have more women, such as the humanities, nursing and social work. While there is a complete absence of diversity, many departments do not have a 50-50 ratio.
Gender socialization is a difficult process to break. Even if parents are more flexible, schools, popular culture and peer groups are still quite traditional the gendered messages and expectations. However, recognizing the ways that males and females children are socialized in all areas of their life, is a first step for learning new ways to act.
I wanted to share the radio interview with the class because the unemployment rates are quite telling. Male dominated jobs are the worst hit. And, yet women employed in predominately female-dominated (read lower pay and fewer benefits) are forced to take two jobs in order to make ends meet.
Good blog, Katie!
Professor Romero