Western economies

1
Western economies

• Economic and technological developments created a
  sexual division of labor and the splitting of the
  home (unpaid labor) from work (paid labor)
• Into early 20th century, U.S. economy was
  primarily agricultural.

2
Changes to Family Economies

• Family economy wives, husbands, and children
  worked on farms and in households to contribute
  to the family.
• Rise of Industrialization the rise of factories
  changed the family economy making it a family
  wage economy or a family employment system where
  fathers worked in factories and paid wives,
  children, relatives.
• Development of technology created factories to
  produce what once had been produced in the home
  by hand sewing machines instead of hand sewing,
  knitting machines instead of hand knitting, etc.

3
The Splitting

• With goods production moved out of home into
  industries, the products of paid labor began to
  be more culturally valued than the products of
  home labor.
• Geographic separation developed between home and
  work severing interdependence of work and family.
  
• Urbanization (development of cities) integrated
  more new European immigrants
• Family maintained values of interdependence with
  industrial workers supporting families (mill
  girls gave money to family until immigrants took
  these jobs)

4
Different Histories

• Economic development affected cultural groups
  differently (see Hoffert)
• African-American class development and family
  experiences different because of institution of
  slavery where workers were not paid, and families
  were broken up in South, freed people in North
• Native American experiences of reservations and
  geographic/economic dislocations affected
  relationship to industrialization. U.S.
  government negotiated with Native American men
  not women undercutting womens power.
• Immigrant experiences differed depending on when
  people came to U.S. and from where Jews came to
  be shop keepers Irish/Finnish women first came
  as maids through agencies for middle/upper class
  English, immigrant men as miners (Finnish
  Minnesota Iron Range, Italian Kentucky mines),
  Chinese men indentured servants/rail workers on
  west coast. Immigrant working classes
  experienced economic and family
  differencesbrought their cultures with them.

5
Rise of Middle Class

• Greater prosperity resulting from
  industrialization led to development of middle
  class professionals and managers
• Middle class split roles men became worker and
  family breadwinner, women became family mother
  and homemaker.
• Role of social institutions (employers,
  government, labor unions, law) in
  institutionalizing this split. Laws created
  protective legislation keeping women out of
  some jobs.
• These splits became normative set up ideal of
  family life for everyone including working
  classes white factory worker men organized in
  trade unions that kept women and minority men out
  and got a family wage to support entire family

6
Doctrine of Separate Spheres

• Institutionalization of family/work splits in
  19th century gave rise to a doctrine of separate
  spheres
• Work sphere associated with values good for
  development of capitalist markets competition,
  rationality, achievement, independence,
  individualism. Values associated with
  masculinity.
• Home sphere associated with values of
  domesticity, purity/piety, submissiveness/dependen
  ce, love/emotions, harmony, spiritual valueshome
  as haven from heartless world of work. Values
  associated with femininity. In 1890, less than
  5 of married women were measured in paid
  employment.

7
Normative Ideals

• Real men were self-made men in the good
  provider role of breadwinners (Kimmel, Manhood
  in Americathe making of the self-made man
  1776-1865)
• Real women were saintly mothers and good
  housekeepers, always happy and managing family
  emotions by creating culture of harmony and care
  (Cott, Bonds of Womanhoodcult of
  domesticity/true womanhood 1780-1835)
• Deviants from ideals were not true men or
  women. Examples?

8
Dislocations to threaten ideal War

• Wars brought women into the labor market in
  different capacities from previous generations.
• Crimean War British Florence Nightingale started
  nursing with women as nursesunheard of before
  that to find women in active war role (unless in
  drag)
• World War II Rosie the Rivetera character made
  up to demonstrate how women could/should take on
  industrial jobs left by men who went to war. Of
  industrial jobs, one out of ten (600,000) were
  African American.
• Milkman all work became womens work

9
Post WWII Women in Labor Force

• With returning WWII male veterans, the Rosies
  were kicked out of their jobs and govt.
  propaganda put them back in the home making
  babies.
• 1950s-1960s economically strong, gender ideals of
  Leave It to Beaver family strong.
• Challenges Vietnam War, oil crises early 1970s,
  around 1977 male wages begin to decline. Late
  1970s to early 1990s male wages declined more
  than womens earnings. This factor pushed
  married women into labor market to make up lost
  family wages.

10
Dislocations Divorce

• Rising divorce rates from 1960s to peak in 1980,
  stabilized, slight decline. Necessitates women
  working.
• Research shows that marital instability may be
  the cause or the result of womens economic
  independence. Costs of staying home and rewards
  of working for pay greater today than 1970s.

11
Late 20th century Social Changes

• Progressive legislation Legal barriers breaking
  down with Equal Pay Act 1963 Title VII of Civil
  Rights Act 1964
• Second wave womens movement emphasis on economic
  independence and equal opportunities
• 1972 Education Amendments and legal challenges to
  increase womens education in 1971 18 of
  twenties women had college degrees, in 1998 29
  did.
• Education and job opportunities for women rising.
• Economic development where economy moved from
  producing goods to producing services and
  information. In 2001, half of all working women
  were employed in service sector and clerical
  jobs.
• Heterosexual married couples with children make
  up ¼ of all households today. (196040) 1/3
  married w/out kids 1/3 single parent (18--86
  female head), living alone, or cohabiting. 1/3
  all births to women over 30.

12
Labor Force Today

• 47 employed workers are women 53 men.
• Majority of both sexes work for pay full time.
• 55 of women with kids work (60 African-American
  women 53.4 Latinas 60 Asian American, 59.1
  white)

13
Sex Segregation

• Concentration of women and men in different
  occupations, firms, jobs
• Occupational sex segregation refers to
  concentration of women/men in different
  occupations.
• Sex segregation at job level more extensive than
  at occupation level.
• Voluntary organizations also segregated

14
Index of Dissimilarity

• Measure of segregation index of dissimilarity
  (100complete segregation 0complete
  integration)
• Level of sex segregation approximately 51.5 in
  1990.
• Means that more than half of either sex would
  have to move to another occupation to bring about
  integration.

15
Race/Ethnic Segregation

• Most studies focus on African-Americans and
  whites
• Levels of occupational segregation by race lower
  than by sex.
• Women/men more likely to work in different
  occupations than blacks/whites
• Sex segregation among blacks/whites greater (60)
  than racial segregation among women and among men
  (30 late 1980s)

16
Occupational Sex Segregation

• A feature of all industrial societies.
  Segregation greater in countries with large
  service sectors, lower where low birth rates and
  stronger egalitarian belief systems (Scandinavia)
• Declined in 1970s
• Women moved into occupations previously held by
  men (librarian, clerical, teacher, bank teller)
  during early 20th century, later moved into
  public relations, systems analysis, bartending,
  advertising, insurance, veterinary medicine
  (doubled since 1991, men declined by 15)
• Only three occupations where men increased
  cooks, kitchen workers, maids/housemen.
• Interventionist or non-interventionist government
  (equal opportunity legislation, family benefits,
  state-subsidized child care/family leave) define
  sex segregation regimes (Chang in Wharton).

17
Time Bind

• Increasing demands from work and family create a
  time bindnot enough for either (Hochschild)
• Men happier going from work to home, women going
  from home to work (constraints vs. freedom
  experienced emotionally)

18
Comparative ExamplesEarly 2000.

• Sweden extensive govt. involvement (paid
  parental leave 80 maternity/paternity leave
  public childcare)
• Netherlands breadwinner model women part-time
  work (60 of working women) paid maternity
  leave limited public childcare (17 under four)
• Italy private solutionstraditional family and
  grandparents paid maternity leave limited
  public childcare (6 under three)
• United Kingdom paid maternity leave minimal
  public childcare (kids in need)
• European Union Agreements means some change

19
References

• Wharton, Chapter 4
• Sylvia Hoffert, A History of Gender in America
  Essays, Documents, Articles (2003)
• Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood (1977) also
  histories of women in America.
• Michael Kimmel, Manhood In America (1996)