the same educationalcredentials and much lessjobexperience, yet he would
earn twicethe salarythatMs.
OW.
was earning. Furthermore, Ms. W. would be
responsible fortrainingthis new employee. Atthis point, Ms. W. decided to
returnto school, and she is currently completingher R.N. degree.
As we willsee throughout this chapter,the gender differences in work-
related sk ills and characteristic> are oftensmall, consistent with Theme 1 of this
book. However, consistentwithTheme 2, women and men are often treated
dif f erently.Womenfrequentlyface barriers with respectto hiring, salary,
treatment, and advancementin the workplace.
We'llbegin this chapter y exploring some general information about
women andwork, andnextwe'llconsider severalkinds of discrimination in the
workplace.We'llthenlook ata variety of traditional and nontraditional
occupations. In thefinalsectionof the chapter, we'lldiscuss how women
coordinatetheir employment withf amily responsibilities.
BACKGROUNDFACTORSRELATED
TO WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT
To remove any confusion, wefirstneedto introduce some terms related to
work. The generalterm working women refersto two categories:
1.Employed women, or women who work for pay. Employed women may
receive a salary orbe self -employed.
2. Nonemployedwomen, or women who are unpaid for their work .They
may work f or their families,intheirhomes, or for volunteer organizations,
but they receive no money for these services.As this chapter demonstrates, employmenthas become an increasingly
important part of women's lives in North America.For example, in 1970,43%
of women overthe age of 16 were employed, and thatpercentage has now
increasedto60% (Bureauof Labor Statistics, 2004c). In Canada, about 58%
of women overthe age of 15 are employed (Statistics Canada, 2006). However,
employment rates differ widely for other countries. Some representative
employmentrates f or women are 38% for Mexico,48% for Japan, 49% for
France, 54% forBrazil, and73% for Ghana (UnitedNations, 2006).
Here is another change: In some f ields once reserved for men, the number of
womenhasincreased dramatically. Wellinto thetwentieth century, women
werebarredfrom many medicalschools. For years, Yale University Medical
School clung tomen-only admissions by arguing that the facilities did not include
women'sbathrooms (M.R.Wah:h, 1990). Asrecently as 1983, only 29% of U.S.
medicalschoolgraduates were women. Currently, 46% of medical school
graduates are women (American Medical Association, 2005). The numbers of
women inlaw schools and veterlnary schoolshave also increased dramatically.
We'll be well intothe twenty-f irstcentury before an equalnumber of practicing
doctors,lawyers, andveterinarialls are female. However, the large percentage of
women currentlyintheprof essional pipeline is encouraging.
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