Workplace Issues Paper

In a World…
Copyright 2013 Stage6

Michael Wertz
SBU 270 77
Summer 2022
Dr. Giunta
 Abstract
In a World is a movie that displays the struggle of Carol working in the entertainment
industry. She strakes an opportunity that can reshape the industry for years to come since it was
previously dominated by males. As we look to relate this to real life statistics, we see trends that
directly relate to separation in pay and occupation type between genders. As we further compare
this information, careers that contain additional hazards tend to show the absence of women in
that particular industry. There are other roles in which women are dominating over their male
counterparts. Statistics like this can blur the ideology of the American dream in which is
discussed in the following paper. Stereotyping is also a major issue not only dealt in a high level
in American society but has its roots deeply inserted into the workplace as well. We can see this
not only in the movie regarding Carol and her father but this is a direct display of gendering
different roles as indicated by Powell.
Introduction

The following paper is a discussion of gender rights in the workplace. As we have seen

over the years, there has been a shift to a more equal workplace. This equality has been a driver

over the years to provide not only a level playing field for those in the same environment but also

to help ensure that with each opportunity, comparable or equal compensation is established as

well. We will cover topics and data that has been covered throughout this course in regards to the

movie In a World, more so looking into the American dream and Stereotyping.

The movie we will be referencing is In a World produced by Stage 6 in 2013. The movie

takes place in Los Angeles, California with Carol Solomon as the main character working as a

voice coach. She was brought up in the voice over industry thanks to her father, Sam Soto, whom

is well-known is the industry for his performances. Carol is presented early in the movie with an

opportunity that is the basis for the entire movie. This opportunity acts not only as the center of

the movie but also triggers a different range of gender biased discussions, actions, and emotions.

The movie is a direct display of the gender issues in the workplace and the culture that surrounds

our current environment.

Stereotyping

Stereotyping is defined by Britannica as “an often unfair and untrue belief that many

people have about all people or things with a particular characteristic”. When we evaluate this

topic within the movie, it all begins with Carol Solomon successfully recording a trailer. Sam

Soto (her father) and Gustav Warner (her competition) are observed in the next scene discussing
women and their previous and current roles in society. They talk about how women are now

moving into the “man’s space” while making it seem as if it is a joke. The entire premise of this

movie is based around the ideology that voice overs have always been a man’s environment and

that women lack the physical ability to provide the same quality of work. This follows Gary

Powell’s description of gender stereotyping. “According to gender stereotypes, males are high in

“masculine” traits such as independence, aggressiveness, and dominance, and females are high in

“feminine” traits such as gentleness, sensitivity to the feelings of others, and tactfulness.”

(Powell,2018) Although you are able to see this very early in the movie, close associates to Carol

show happiness and confidence in her while she begins the process to break through the glass

ceiling.

Toward the end of the movie, during a dinner party, Carol mentions to her father that she

is doing the Amazon Games tryout. After being choked up over the news, he talks about being an

“arm’s length” away from the industry and that she should understand how it has been

developed. It appears that he was hoping that those early life experiences could remove any

desires from pursuing a role in that industry. He claims it is because she is a freshman however,

he had made comments that women have their place in the workplace. (In a World, 2013) After

the party, Sam contacts his agent to enter himself back in the running for the same role. This

appears to be a callback to the scene when Sam and Gustav were discussing the role of women in

today’s world. Not only does this show that daddy’s little girl could only watch, but it shows the

expectation set forth by Sam. “Bring up your children to be self-reliant, so train and teach both

your son and daughter to cook and clean. (Merely giving them good education is not enough)

This will establish parity, a very powerful conditioning which will slowly and surely wipe away

gender biases across all walks of life.” (Sinha, 2018) The mindset above when referenced with
Sinha shows how the foundation of stereotyping is typically bred at an early age. This

expectation is not only shaped in the household but is directly carried over into the workplace.

What better place for a movie like this to take place than Los Angeles, California. Los

Angeles is no different when it comes to pay gaps. “More than $12,000 stands between the

median starting salary for a 22-year-old woman and her male counterpart – a gap that extends

over time”. (Giunta, C (2022). Week 5 Lecture. Worker Responsibilities: Continued,

Compensation Info) This fact can be tied directly back to opportunities each individual is

presented with. We see this in the move with Carol capitalizing off of a missed opportunity by

Gustav, which leads to other roles and commercials.

When we look at career paths for residents of California, we are able to see a very

interesting trend regarding gender. While conducting my own independent research, I was able

review occupations and the percentages held by women across multiple sectors. As per the U.S.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 608 employed positions listed, only 211 of those roles or

34.7% were not reported to be held by women. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021) Of these

211 jobs, it was determined that 120 or 56.8% of the jobs contained some type of added hazard

to the profession. As defined by the U.S. Department of Labor, these roles could receive hazard

pay. “Hazard pay means additional pay for performing hazardous duty or work involving

physical hardship. Work duty that causes extreme physical discomfort and distress which is not

adequately alleviated by protective devices is deemed to impose a physical hardship.”

(Department of Labor, n.d) Some of the most notable roles from the list contain professions such

as but not limited to millwrights, riggers, manufacturing labors and operators, and nuclear

technicians. All of the aforementioned careers, these roles would be either physically demanding

or contain another physical hazard. “If women tend to avoid blue-collar occupations, it is
unlikely that such hypothetical shifts are due to differential treatment in the labor market.”

(Gabriel & Schmitz, 2007) As for a direct comparison of the different career opportunities, we

see roles filled by women that were ≥ 90% were not susceptible to these same hazards.

American Dream

The American Dream is defined by Oxford English Dictionary as “the ideal by which

equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals

to be achieved.” As the movie begins, we first learn of Sam Solomon. He is a well-known voice

over who is discouraging his daughter from following in his footsteps. While this is not right, it

does set the stage for Carol to work toward her American Dream. Through hard work and

perseverance, Carol begins to seize opportunities and begins to establish a name for herself. Due

to the lack of promptness from Gustav Warner, Carol is able to step in and perform a voiceover

for a low budget movie. Since she typically worked as a voice coach (also seen as a women’s

role in this workplace), it was a huge milestone for her to land success with this movie. This

caused more opportunities to materialize shortly thereafter. As she capitalized on these

opportunities, she begins to become exposed to more a more lucrative opportunity that will

disrupt not only the industry but her relationship with her father.

What we see here is a major step in moving up to the glass ceiling. “The glass ceiling has

been defined as a “transparent barrier that (keeps women from rising above a certain level in

corporations”” (Powell, pg 147) There is no physical glass ceiling, this is merely a metaphor to

indicate the climax of the journey. The glass ceiling itself is gendered. “It implies that achieving

ultimate career success is analogous to climbing a mountain to the top, in which may take place
on the backs of others whom the climber has dominated along the way.” (Powell, pg 149) This

all is considered a barrier because typically this metaphorical barrier is traditionally set forth by

males in the industry. Switching back to the movie, during the life time award ceremony, the

Amazon Games is revealed. At this point, Carol is revealed as the person selected for the

Amazon games voiceover role. At this point, Sam appears to be sickened and temporarily

removes himself from the audience to find a private location. Once away from everyone, he

begins screaming and crying that he was out performed by his daughter. Carol later finds out that

she was used to insert the woman role. She also finds out she was not the best for the job. What

makes this very interesting is that a woman made this decision to use a woman to introduce a

vision for the desired audience in an effort to maximize profits for the films.

The film begins to wrap up, Sam Soto dedicates his award to his daughters. Although he

does not directly mention that Carol did the voice over, he does mention how proud that he is of

his daughters. This would begin to promote the Catholic Social Teaching (CST) of promote

family. This is especially important that he makes this comment since it will likely enable Carol

to continue her work and drive more success. Up until this point, Sam has been very opposed of

the career path that Carol was pursuing.

As we have seen over the years, everyone travels to Los Angeles, California to fulfill the

American Dream. Looking into the workplace, it appears through the movie that the arena for

voiceovers is dominated by masculine males. When we review the current demographic

descriptions (1), we notice that the key players in this movie are mostly white males. With

independent research from the U.S. Census, this comes as a surprise since there are 48.1% of the

demographic are Hispanic or Latino. (2021) Further more as per California’s labor website we

look to investigate gender participation (3). Through the research, women only maintain
5,401,000 while the male counterparts held 12,544,000 employment opportunities. (Census,

2021) As Carol finds success throughout the movie, she begins to gain more opportunity. This

now creates a new stereotype of what she has now gained in life. This also enables her followers

to believe that they can contribute to a previous male dominated career. “People like to

categorize themselves and others into groups along with primary and secondary dimensions of

diversity and then identify ways in which their own group is better than and different from other

groups” (Powell, 2018) This is displayed as we see Carol at the end of the movie holding a voice

coaching class for women. She claims that they should not sound babyish but more so as women.

Summary

As we have seen, equality in the workplace is a must. Not only is it morally proper, fair,

and align with the Catholic Social Teachings, everyone has the ability to bring something new to

the table. “Thus, the appropriate goal of mixed-sex teams is to maximize the advantages of sex

diversity while minimizing the disadvantages. Sex diversity in teams represents a “double-edged

sword,” offering both an opportunity and a challenge for organizations.” (Powell, 2018) The

movie, In a World, was a beautiful demonstration as to feeling the struggles of equality

(especially feeling it from her dad), promoting family, and seizing a random opportunity to set

the stage for success and the foundation for the women to enter the environment that was

typically controlled by the masculine males. The first step to reaching true equality will be to

ensure everyone is properly educated and build foundations of equal opportunity within our

cultures. As we proceed forward with equality and improvements in the workplace, I suspect that

we will begin to see advancements that were unforeseen before.

References

Britannica. (2022). Stereotype Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary. Britannica

Dictionary. https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/stereotype

Department of Labor. (n.d.). Hazard Pay | U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. Department of Labor.

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/hazardpay

Gabriel, P. E., & Schmitz, S. (2007, June). Gender Differences Among Workers. U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2007/06/art2full.pdf

Giunta, C (2022). Week 5 Lecture. Worker Responsibilities: Continued, Compensation Info

Oxford. (2022). american dream definition - Google Zoeken. Oxford English Dictionary.

https://www.google.com/search?q=american+dream+definition

Powell, G. N. (2018). Women and Men in Management (5th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Sinha, S. (2018, April 27). Capability And Not Gender Determines Leadership. Entrepreneur.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/312562

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022, January 20). Employed persons by detailed occupation,

sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm

U.S. Census Bureau. (2021). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Los Angeles city, California.

Census Bureau QuickFacts. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/losangelescitycalifornia