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Women In The Workplace: What Is Happening?
The issue of the gender stratification of the workplace has been discussed briefly in the introductory chapter but warrants a more in-depth discussion here. As already mentioned, the idea that the gender stratification of the workplace is rapidly disappearing and that it will disappear very soon might correspond more with fiction than fact and this is what I argue in this chapter. In spite of changes to gender stereotypes and gendered work divisions, the gender stratification of the workplace is still very much present and it is not disappearing as rapidly as is sometimes believed.
In this discussion I aim to show how the gender stratification of the workplace remains and how influential its effects are. The fact that society in general and the workplace specifically remains gender-stratified despite all the change is referred to as « evolution rather than revolution » by Ellen Cook (1993, p. 227).
As stated earlier, the labour market has changed drastically in recent years from a mostly male occupied arena to more or less equal proportions of men and women (Charles & Davies, 2000; Wentling, 1996). Despite these changes in the labour market, gender differentiation continues with a tendency towards gender traditional occupations, a continuing wage gap, discontinued career paths for women and unequal work division on the home front (Alvesson & Billig, 1997; Marlow, Marlow & Arnold, 1995; Reskin & Bielby, 2005; Wentling, 1996). To some extent men and women live in different worlds with different orientations towards career achievement and different expectations and ensuing different choices (Alvesson & Billig, 1997; Cook, 1993). As mentioned earlier women generally make up 50% of the economically active population. However, they have not been successful in entering the management world in the same proportion (Charles & Davies, 2000; Gilbert & Rossman, 1992; Marlow, Marlow & Arnold, 1995; Wentling, 1996).
Statistics
There seems to be a definite increase in women’s employment as well as in their representation in the ranks of management. Yet, globally women rarely exceed 20% in management although they constitute between 40 and 50% of the world’s labour force (Benschop, Halsema & Schreurs, 2001; Gatenby & Humphries, 1999). The higher the position, the fewer women in that position and in the largest, most powerful organisations women in top management comprise only a small percentage: 13% in Fortune 500 companies and less than 5% in most countries (Powell & Graves, 2003) Women in the same positions as men seem to be better educated and qualified than the men, an indication that women have to work harder to reach the same goals (Marlow, Marlow & Arnold, 1995; Wirth, 1998). There is adequate evidence that women tend to have a much slower progression in organisational hierarchies (Morgan, Schor & Martin, 1993; Murrell, 2001).
The South African situation is comparable to the global situation where women are also not reaching top management positions (South African Department of Labour, 2003). To begin with, although women make up approximately 50% of the economically active population, female working time exceeds male working time by 22% (http://nationmaster.com/country/sf/labor). In the census on South African women in corporate leadership carried out by Catalyst in 2004, the following data emerged: in 2004 women made up 54% of the adult population of South Africa and 41% of the working South African population. Women made up 14,7% of executive managers and 7,1% of all directors in the country. This picture is similar to the international trend reflected on so far and shows that the relative representation of women in executive management and board positions is disproportionate to that of men. Of the 3 125 directorship positions in the census, 221 are held by women and only 11 women hold the position of chair of board. There were only seven female CEOs/MDs in the census (Catalyst, 2004).
In the rest of Africa there is a difference between Northern Africa and sub-Saharan Africa where women comprise 26% of the workforce in Northern Africa and 43% in sub-Saharan Africa (United Nations, 2000). In Northern Africa women are mostly active in the services sector and in sub-Saharan Africa in the agricultural sector (United Nations, 2000). Waged and salaried work is the most leading form of employment in Africa with self-employment making up 11% of the female workforce.
In both North and sub-Saharan Africa women’s occupation of managerial positions was limited to under 23% by 1997 (United Nations, 2000). Despite the general similarities in these trends there seems to be some variation in different countries of residence and therefore statistics do seem to differ between nations (Charles & Davies, 2000). These differences in context can be linked to the cultural beliefs in the context. The significance of context has been largely ignored and studies tend to focus more on organisational cultures, structure of labour markets and individual choices. Women’s under-representation in senior management is clearly also linked to region or locality among other factors (Charles & Davies, 2000).
Salary Gap
Disparities in earning continue despite many efforts to establish equal pay for equal work and advances made so far (Calás & Smirich, 1996; McNay, 2000; Powell & Graves, 2003; Roos & Gatta, 1999; United Nations, 2000). Women of colour lag behind their white counterparts (Murrell, 2001). Wages earned in female-intensive occupations are generally lower than in male-intensive ones. It seems that reductions in the wage gap are largely in areas where women have entered male-intensive areas.
The wage gap also does not diminish with educational level and exists at every educational level and also across racial and ethnic groups in the United States (Powell & Graves, 2003; Roos & Gatta, 1999). Literature suggests that it exists in most countries and that it occurs in countries such as Australia, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan (Roos & Gatta, 1999). Some argue that the wage gap has increased in the USA by 21cents for every dollar earned and that lower education levels and part-time work cannot be the only reason for this but that discrimination
and stereotypical expectations and attitudes can also account for this (Salary gap…, 2002). Dreher and Cox (2000) indicate that male employees have an advantage over female and non-white employees in that the having a better chance of achieving better compensation when they move to new employers. This means that a change in position does not necessarily involve better compensation if you are female or nonwhite.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND PERSONAL LOCATIONS
How it started: personal reflections
The South African Context
Women in the Workplace
The Aim of the Study
Research Questions
Outline of the Thesis
CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL LOCATIONS
Epistemological Shifts
Social Constructionism: A skeleton
Social Constructionism and Gender
Essentialism and Constructionism
Concerns with Essentialist Approaches
What Social Constructionism offers
Embedded in Language
Embedded in Culture
Identity
Power, Knowledge and Foucauldian thought
Social constructionism and Feminism(s)
The Picture so Far: In the grip of language?
Embodied and Embedded
Habitus
Constructing a Sexed Body
The Praxeological Moment
The Scholarly Gaze
Epistemology and Embodiment
The Study of Discourse and Social constructionism
Historical and Cultural Situatedness
Power and Ideology
Contradiction and Resistance
The Application of the Study of Discourse
Conclusion
CHAPTER 3 ACADEMIC DISCOURSES ON WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE
Women in the workplace: What is happening?
Statistics
Salary Gap
Occupational Choice
The Glass Ceiling
Academic Discourses on Women in Management
The Individual: Constructing the Individual, constructing difference
Career Choice and Career Attitudes
Reflections on Studies of the Individual
Training and Education in Organisations: A Sexless Matter?
Stress Management and Burnout: An Individual Matter?
Societal Processes: Constructing Social Patterns and Influence
Traditional Stereotypes and Positions
Economic Theory: Constructing the Neutral Market
Social Networks
Social Control
Work and Family
Reflections on Studies of Societal Processes
Organisational and Institutional Processes
Organisational Demographics
Organisational Interventions: Mentoring in the Workplace
Organisational Interventions: Career Counselling and
assessment
Sexual Harassment: Dealing with Hostile Work Environments
Feminist Organisational Theories
Organisational Culture
The Masculine Substructure of Organisations
Reflections on Organisational Studies
Conclusion
CHAPTER 4 THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER IN ORGANISATIONS
The discursive in organisations
Discourse and Power
Clarifying Discours
Text/context
Language/context
Micro/Macro and Determinism/Voluntarism
Constructivist/critical
Radical constructivist/realist
Gender, Discourse and the Organisation
Four Frames for Gender, Discourse and Organisations
Gendering Practices and Practicing Gender: the practice of discursive
possibilities
Paradox, Contradiction and Irony
Gender Discourse in Organisations
Diversity Discourse
Competitive Masculinit
The Managerial Discourse
Different Discourses at Play/ Intertextuality
Discourse and the Body in Organisations
The Challenges of Including the Body
The Female Body at Work
Conclusion
CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH POSITION AND METHODOLOGY
Aim of the Study
Research Questions
Research Position: Social Constructionism, Feminism anelf-reflexivity
Feminist Social Constructionist Methodology
Self-reflexivity
Discourse Analysis
The Research Process
Research Participants
The Interview
Interview Transcription
Discourse Analysis
Data Analysis Procedures
Criteria for Establishing the Trustworthiness of the Study
Ethical Procedures
Conclusion
CHAPTER 6 THE PARTICIPANTS, INTERVIEWS AND DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
REFERENCE LIST
APPENDIX A INTERVIEW GUIDE
APPENDIX B EXAMPLE OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
