This document summarizes key concepts from a lecture on gender studies, including: the history of gender studies; gender socialization and systems; explanations for the gender wage gap such as choices women make, gendered organizations, and discrimination; the "double shift" worked by women; and the marginalization of men in domestic work. It also discusses cultural bias against stay-at-home fathers and the concept of gendered institutions.

1. Eric C. Thompson
Semester 2, 2011/2012

2. Where We Have Been…
 History of Gender Studies
 Sex/Gender Distinction
 Becoming Male or Female
 Gender socialization;
paths to learning gender.
 Gender Systems
 Masculinity/Femininity
 Gender as systems of
beliefs and behaviors

3. Where We Are Going…
 Gender in Popular Culture
 Gender in Advertising
 Popular Culture
 Gender in Social Relations
 Gender and Power
 Gender and Work
 Gender, Here and Now
 Gender in Singapore
YOU ARE
HERE

4. Recall from Last Lecture…
 Explaining Patriarchy (Gender and Power)
 Baby Burden and Sexual Exchange
 Political Economy
 Culture, Ideology, Beliefs
 Political Economy in explaining Patriarchy:
 How is value produced, who controls that value, who is
dependent on whom?
 Today’s Lecture focuses on the contemporary political
economy of work and jobs.

5. Today’s Lecture…
 Division of Labor and Gender at Work
 What is the “Double Shift”?
 Women working a “double shift”
 Domestic marginalization of Men
 Why is there a “Gender Gap in Wages”?
 Choice Theory (women choose to ‘opt out’)
 Gendered Organizations (Structural Discrimination)
 Overt Discrimination

6. Video: The Double Shift
 Even within occupations, it seems that specialties are
gendered (e.g., education, law, medicine). Why so?
 What is the “juggling act” referred to? Do men juggle?
 How much is the second shift worth, monetarily?
 Should homemakers be compensated for their years of
work in the case of a divorce?
 Is it “fair” for the state to make women give up their jobs
to men during times of national economic crisis? Is it a
sound decision, economically?
 Is the state obligated to help working mothers?
 If society became more egalitarian, would we fully
accept men as stay-at-home dads and homemakers?

7. The “Second Shift” for Women
 From work of sociologist Arlie Hochschild, “The Second
Shift” (1989)
 Women work a “second shift” housekeeping and child
care, after the first shift of paid work outside the home;
Men don’t. In the 1970s-1990s women worked more than
men (inside and outside the home).
 Recent research (in the United States) shows a lessening of
the gap in the hours men and women work; though women
do more domestic work and men do more work outside the
home. (See: Time Magazine “The Chore Wars” 2011)
 Reason for the declining gap in the ‘double shift’: Men are
working more as working-class and middle-class wages
have declined.

8. Domestic Marginalization of Men
• Women often complain about men’s lack of
participation in domestic work; but many studies
illustrate the domestic marginalization of men.
• Women “protect” the home as their sphere of
dominance.
• Men are not trained to do domestic work and
assumed to be incompetent.
• See: Ashwin and Lytkina “Men in Crisis in Russia,”
Gender and Society 18(2), 2004

9. Cultural Bias against Stay-at-Home
Dads: The Case of “Poor T. Rex…”
 Discovery Channel:
“Make Me a Dino”
 Dinosaurs have been
found to be more like
birds than lizards.
 T. Rex probably had
colorful plumage, males
may have nested on eggs
 Portrayal: “Poor T.
Rex, reduced from King
to Stay-at-Home Dad”

10. Based on genetics, the closest living
relative to T. Rex is the Chicken

11. Stay-at-Home Dads
 Consider the issues raised in a “Stay-at-Home Dads”
group:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VyuAs1h3z8
 Or the representation of Stay-at-Home Dads in
popular culture:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmWp-rI6vSw

12. The Gender Gap in Wages
 Universal (global) and persistent
 Everywhere, men earn more than women.
 Relative differences
 Biggest Gap: UAE, Peru, Belize – Women earn 30% of
men’s wages.
 Smallest Gap: Iceland – Women earn 94% of men’s
wages.
 Singapore: Women earn ~65% of men’s wages (common
for industrialized countries)

13. Explaining the Wage Gap
 Different Choices made by Men and Women
 Men choose higher paid, more demanding jobs
 Women choose lower paid, more flexible jobs that allow
them to spend time with family
 See: Kingsley Browne “Biology at Work”
 As Result of “Gendered” Organization
 Corporations and other Institutions are structured in
ways that discriminate (unintentionally)
 See: Joan Acker “Hierarchy, Jobs, Bodies”
 As a Result of Overt Discrimination

14. Browne vs. Acker*
 Kingsley Browne: Women earn less because
of the choices they make. Women “opt out” of
high paying, but stressful and time-
consuming jobs.
 Joan Acker: Women earn less because of the
systemic, structural biases of institutions
(companies, schools, etc.).
 These are not mutually exclusive; both are
true. They overdetermine the gender gap in
wages. *Required readings for this week.

15. Complexity of the Wage Gap
 Browne demonstrates: The most significant gap is
between women who have children and all others.
 The gap between Single Childless Women and All
Men is much less substantial.
 Married Men earn more than Unmarried Men.
 Singapore 2008 report claimed only 2% gender
wage gap among new graduates…
 BUT, these are almost certainly Single Childless Women!
(A very biased sample for claiming that there is little or
no “gender gap in wages”!)

16. Gender & Opportunity Structures
 Individual-level effects of availability factors: Women
select jobs in which…
 They believe they can get hired
 They think they will be welcome
 They believe they can succeed
 This limits many “non-traditional” and sex-segregated
occupations that may pay more, have higher status
 At the same time, women have the structural option of
finding a partner who will provide surplus resources to
them (sexual exchange theory) to a far greater degree
than men.

17. Are Women today more
independent than in the past?
 Sexual-exchange theory and political-economic theory
(Huber) predict that patriarchy is correlated with
dependence.
 The more dependent women are on men, the more
vulnerable and disempowered they are.
 Women over the last fifty years have become less
dependent on men on providers; but more directly
dependent on employers and states.
 Unlike husbands and families, employers and states do
not want children (they want workers and citizens).
 Hmmm… and we wonder why birthrates are falling?

18. Acker: Gendered Organizations
 Organizational practices and organizational
processes create gender segregation.
 They also invent and reproduce gender norms.
 Acker is arguing that gender pervades
institutional and organizational structures
(Browne considers organizations to be
basically ‘gender neutral’).

19. Gendered Institutions
 “Gendered institutions” (e.g. corporations, schools, etc.)
 “Gendered” Institutions are not (only) the result of gender
difference; Institutions produce gender difference.
 Gender difference in one institution is affected by gender in
other institutions in a society.
 For example, gender differences in a corporate office will be affected
by the production of gender in family life; and the gender in family
life will be affected by the production of gender in corporate offices.
 No institution is “gender neutral” (even if it formally
declares itself to be). Gender is a pervasive social and
cultural system. Its effects can be reduced (or amplified)
but no society is “free from gender.”

20. Is NUS a Gendered Institution?
The figures above are from the United States.
Would Singapore be any different?

21. Is NUS a Gendered Institution?
Men on the NUS Board of Trustees: Women on the NUS Board of Trustees:
Mr WONG Ngit Liong Mdm Kay Kuok Oon Kwong
Mr Hans-Dieter Bott Ms Olivia LUM
Mr. Lucas Chow Mdm Halimah bte Yacob
Mr Edward D'SILVA Ms Yeoh Chee Yan
Mr. Goh Yew Lin
Mr. Han Book Kwang “Gendered Institutions” do not
Mr. Hiew Yoon Khong
Mr Hsieh Fu Hua always have formal rules based
Prof Dr Olaf Kubler on gender.
Mr. Michael Lien
Prof Edison Liu
Mr Paul Ma They produce “gendered”
Mr Chandra Mohan K NAIR outcomes based on multiple
LG NG Yat Chung
Professor TAN Chorh Chuan factors both internal and
Professor SAW Swee Hock external to the institution, such
Mr. Phillip Tan
Mr. Sunny Verghese as…. Social
Mr. Lucien Wong attitudes, preferences, opportuni
ties, etc.

22. Are Career Ladders Gender-Neutral?
• Most professions (corporations, universities, law
firms) expect individuals to spend their 20s obtaining
professional degrees; their 30s “building” their career;
and becoming “established” in their 40s.
• Is it fair to expect this equally of men and women?
• Is it “fair” to ignore the relatively larger commitments
women have to make to childbearing during these
years (if they want to have children of their own)?

23. Glass Ceilings and Escalators
 Glass ceiling
 Mostly-invisible barrier that keeps women from
advancing to top levels at work
 Glass escalator
 Mostly-invisible accelerator that pushes men into
higher-level positions at work, more desirable work
assignments, and more pay (even in traditional female
occupations: nursing, teaching)

24. Overt Gender Bias
• On top of Browne’s choice theory and Acker’s
gendered organizations, there is often strong evidence
of overt gender bias.
• Research results:
– When given mock job applications for gender neutral
and traditional male jobs, more applicants with male
names or male characteristics were offered the jobs, even
when the applications (resumes) were identical in
content.
– When applying for child care jobs, the bias favored
women (men were not offered the jobs).

25. Summary
 The Gender Gap in Wages, Three Explanations:
 Choice Theory
 Gendered Organization Theory
 Overt Discrimination
 All three play a role.
 To what extent are they found in Singapore?
 See: Reading by Carol Tay

26. Questions…
 Do women in Singapore work a double shift?
 Why or why not? Which women, under which
circumstances? Do you see a “double shift” among your
family or friends?
 Are men you know (family, friends) encouraged or
discouraged from doing domestic work? Why?
 Can you think of examples of the three causes of the
gender gap in wages in Singapore: (1) choices women
make; (2) structural/organizational gender bias; (3)
overt gender bias? Which are most important or
common in Singapore?