Working conditions, social support, and the well-being of female and male factory workers

Previous research on the effects of working conditions on well-being typically has focused on men; the few studies including women have compared men and women in different work settings. We analyze the effects of four kinds of working conditions--job demands, job deprivations and rewards, physical environment, and work-related social support--on the well-being of female and male factory workers in similar jobs. We also test for buffering (interaction) effects of social support (from co-workers, supervisors, and company programs) on relations between working conditions and well-being. All types of working conditions affect well-being, but there are almost no gender differences in the effects of working conditions on well-being. Although work-related social support promotes well-being among both women and men, it does not (at least as measured here) buffer effects of other stressful working conditions. In general, the results indicate considerable gender similarity in the processes through which the job affects well-being.     

Striking A Balance: Female Correctional Officers,Gender Role Stereotypes,and Male Prisons*

This paper examines the strategies developed by female correctional officers to circumvent interactional and organizational barriers to advancement in the traditionally-male work organization of the men's prison. Data for the analysis are drawn from interviews with female officers and other staff in a state department of corrections located in the western United States. In a dramaturgical-like fashion, female officers seeking to advance must moderate–strike a balance–between a series of countervailing negative sex role stereotypes. However, regardless of their success in presenting a “balanced” image at work, female officers experienced stress from their responsibility of accommodating to this predominantly male work environment.     

MY TICKET,MY "SELF": LOTTERY TICKET NUMBER SELECTION AND THE COMMODIFICATION AND EXTENSION OF THE SELF

According to the research literature, college‐educated women provide the most consistent support for nontraditional sex‐role attitudes. Conversely, working‐class males are supposedly the most ambivalent toward changes in gender roles. The present study involves a direct comparison of the attitudes of two different samples: one employed in blue‐collar occupations and the other enrolled in a small, private university. Some of the responses to an eleven‐item scale of sex‐role attitudes are consistent with the results of previous research. For example, women are generally more nontraditional than men. However, most surprising is the finding that male college students are the most conservative subgroup included in this study. By the senior year of college, students have become more liberal, but the “gender gap” persists. Parents’ educational status and fathers’ occupational status are statistically significant variables for female but not for male students. The authors conclude that the uncertain but dynamic relationship between socioeconomic status and sex‐role ideology will require further clarification and specification.     

Sexual Politics in the Workplace: The Interactional World of Policewomen

This paper examines the dynamics of male-female interaction in one work setting—the backstage region of a police department—and explores the variety of ways that policewomen are pressured to “stay in their place” by male coworkers. Policewomen face interpersonal dilemmas because as police officers they are expected to behave like colleagues (i.e. as status equals); as women they are expected to behave as status subordinates. This paper investigates a number of the techniques by which female officers' gender is made salient and male officers assert dominance over female officers. The verbal techniques employed include the use of euphemisms, affectionate terms of address, cursing, joking and putdowns, and gossip. Non-verbal messages are transmitted by the use of personal space, touch, and chivalrous ceremonies. In addition the problems posed by sexuality and sexual harassment in the workplace are discussed. Data are based on nine months of participant observation and 55 interviews with officers in one police district in Washington, D.C.     

Relational demography in the workplace and health: an analysis of gender and the subordinate-superordinate role-set

Using data from a 2005 national survey of working adults in the United States, we examine the effects of the gender composition of the superordinate-subordinate role-set on mental and physical health measures. Subordinates' and superordinates' genders are important determinants. Men who work in gender-mixed superordinate contexts (i.e., with one male and one female superior) report lower levels of distress and physical symptoms than men who work with one male superior. Women who work with one male superior report less distress and fewer physical symptoms compared to women who work with one female superior or in gender-mixed superordinate contexts. With a few exceptions, these observations generally hold net of occupation, job sector, and an array of work-related conditions. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of predictions derived from the similarity-attraction and role congruity theories. We also outline ways that theoretical development in relational demography can be refined by a more specific focus on the demographic characteristics--especially gender--of the superordinate-subordinate role-set.     

EXPOsing Men's Gender Role Attitudes as Porn Superfans

Much contemporary debate about pornography centers on its role in portraying and perpetuating gender inequality. This article compares traditional gendered attitudes between cisgender men attending the Adult Entertainment Expo (n = 294) and a random sample of male respondents from the 2016 General Social Survey (GSS), a U.S. representative survey of general attitudes and beliefs collected every two years (n = 863). Our survey borrowed questions from the GSS to measure attitudes about gender equality across four dimensions: (1) working mothers, (2) women in politics, (3) traditional gender roles in the family, and (4) affirmative action for women in the workplace. Through bivariate analyses, we found that “porn superfans” are no more sexist or misogynistic than the general U.S. public on two of the four measures (women in politics and women in the general workplace) and held more progressive gender‐role attitudes than the general public on the other two measures. We conducted binary logistic regressions for those two measures to determine if the relationship remained significant when controlling for other factors. For one dimension, working mothers, it did (p < .001). Our results call into question some of the claims that porn consumption fosters de facto negative and hostile attitudes toward women.     

Ungrateful slaves? An examination of job quality and job satisfaction for male part-time workers in the UK

Research on part-time work has concentrated over many decades on the experiences of women but male part-time employment is growing in the UK. This article addresses two sizable gaps in knowledge concerning male part-timers: are men's part-time jobs of lower quality than men's full-time jobs? Are male part-timers more or less job-satisfied compared to their full-time peers? A fundamental part of both interrogations is whether men's part-time employment varies by occupational class. The article is motivated by the large body of work on female part-timers. Its theoretical framework is rooted in one of the most controversial discussions in the sociology of women workers: the “grateful slave” debate that emerged in the 1990s when researchers sought to explain why so many women expressed job satisfaction with low-quality part-time jobs. Innovatively, this article draws upon those contentious ideas to provide new insights into male, rather than female, part-time employment. Based upon analysis of a large quantitative data set, the results provide clear evidence of low-quality male part-time employment in the UK, when compared with men's full-time jobs. Men working part-time also express deteriorating satisfaction with jobs overall and in several specific dimensions of their jobs. Male part-timers in lower occupational class positions retain a clear “lead” both in bad job quality and low satisfaction. The article asks whether decreasingly satisfied male part-time workers should be termed “ungrateful slaves?” It unpacks the “grateful slave” metaphor and, after doing so, rejects its value for the ongoing analysis of part-time jobs in the formal labor market.     

SATISFACTION?

This study analyzes 1973 Quality of Employment Survey data to examine how work-place gender composition affects women's work-related psychological well-being. With individual, job, and organizational characteristics controlled, women in predominantly-male work settings are the most satisfied with their jobs. This supports theories that women's intergroup relations improve as their relative numbers decline and previous accounts of women's social comparison processes. The least satisfied women are in "female-tilted" settings (15–30% male), apparently reflecting favored treatment of the male minority, to their female co-workers' frustration. Neither job-related depression nor job-related self-esteem relates to workplace gender composition. These results for women are compared to a recent study of men (Wharton and Baron 1987) that reports more substantial links between gender composition and psychological well-being.     

Masculinity and Tom Identity in Thailand

Abstract

Thai lesbian women engage local cultural meanings of masculinity in the creation of personal identities. Lesbian identity in Thailand is largely framed in terms of “butch-femme” gender role-playing, with the masculine woman referred to as tom and the feminine woman dee. According to informants, the dynamics between toms and dees differ from the normative expectations and experiences of hetero-sexuality for Thai women. Although Thai toms express their identity in terms of being “like men,” they often differ from typical Thai male attitudes in terms of attitudes towards female sexuality, masculine sensitivity, and expectations from women in terms of long-term relationships. I conclude that Thai tom-identity is positioned against both normative Thai femininity and masculinity. This paper addresses the feelings towards sexuality and self-identity of many Thai lesbians, and seeks to help health and welfare professionals be sensitive to cultural nuances of gender identity, and attitudes towards relationships and sex among lesbian Thai women.     

Hyperfemininity: Measurement and initial validation of the construct

Asocial control model of rape proposes that there are societal mechanisms including rape in place to maintain the power imbalance between males and females. One of the forces that perpetuates the problem of rape is traditional gender‐role socialization. A gender‐role model of rape characterizes males as aggressive initiators of sexual activity and women as passive participants. Research has established a link between extreme adherence to a male gender role and experience with sexual aggression; it has been proposed that females learn attitudes about sexuality that might negatively influence their sexual experiences as well, but there is little research to support such a proposal. In the present study, “hyperfeminine” women were hypothesized to indicate particular traditional attitudes and beliefs regarding the rights and roles of women that would have implications for male‐female relationships. The development of a scale to measure hyperfemininity is reported, and several studies are presented that provide initial evidence that the Hyperfemininity scale is both valid and reliable. Hyperfemininity was found to be associated with attitudes supportive of a traditional feminine gender role; these attitudes, in turn, were found to be related to adversarial sexual attitudes and traditional feminine achievement ideals. The possible origins of hyperfeminine attitudes and their role in helping to institutionalize the problem of rape are discussed.     

Individual versus Household Migration Decision Rules: Gender and Marital Status Differences in Intentions to Migrate in South Africa

This research tests the thesis that the neoclassical microeconomic and the new household economic theoretical assumptions on migration decision‐making rules are segmented by gender, marital status, and time frame of intention to migrate. Comparative tests of both theories within the same study design are relatively rare. Utilizing data from the Causes of Migration in South Africa national migration survey, we analyse how individually held “own‐future” versus alternative “household well‐being” migration decision rules effect the intentions to migrate of male and female adults in South Africa. Results from the gender and marital status specific logistic regressions models show consistent support for the different gender‐marital status decision rule thesis. Specifically, the “maximizing one’s own future” neoclassical microeconomic theory proposition is more applicable for never married men and women, the “maximizing household income” proposition for married men with short‐term migration intentions, and the “reduce household risk” proposition for longer time horizon migration intentions of married men and women. Results provide new evidence on the way household strategies and individual goals jointly affect intentions to move or stay.     

The Underrepresentation of Women in Leadership Positions in Rural Russia

Numerous studies have documented the persistence of gender inequality in rural Russia, including the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. A survey (N = 169) conducted in two rural Russian regions examined residents' explanations of gender inequality and their support for various remedies to ameliorate this situation. Both male and female respondents downplay outright discrimination in accounting for gender‐based occupational inequalities. Instead, respondents are more likely to agree with explanations that are embedded in cultural notions of a traditional gender‐based division of labor, in which the home responsibilities for women and a “natural” advantage of masculinity make it less likely that women become leaders. With respect to strategies for encouraging women to be leaders, both men and women support “more training” and “more husband help at home,” with women being slightly more positive on the latter item.     

EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRISON RAPE ELIMINATION ACT (PREA): A “LESSONS LEARNED” APPROACH

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to address sexual violence in prison. While previous has focused on sexual violence occurring in correctional facilities, there has been a dearth of studies that document the expertise, experience, or reflections of program following the cimplementation of PREA- within a correctional system. The current study utilizes a “lessons learned” approach to discuss the impact of the PREA Demonstration Project on a state prison system that includes 19 correctional institutions. Results indicate the benefits of merging the philosophical orientation of key stakeholders, establishing benchmarks, and the need for partnerships with prosecutors. A comparison of the perceptions of correctional administrators, inmates, and front-line correctional officers regarding PREA is included. Also featured are the “lessons learned” from the implementation of PREA into four prison sites, along with the concept of building trust and the impact of lockdowns due to staff shortages.     

Disparate Levels of Stress in Police and Correctional Officers: Preliminary Evidence from a Pilot Study on Domestic Violence

New data from a prevention curriculum project on officer-involved domestic violence reveals significant differences in the reported job stress of Florida's correctional officers when compared to police officers who took the same surveys. The significantly higher reported levels of organizational stress in particular—especially those related to staff and resource shortages and attitudes about leadership—raise concerns about the relationship between organizational stress and the reported drastic budget cuts, hiring freezes, and layoffs experienced by the Department of Corrections in 2009. The surprising disparity has significant implications for policy makers, who should be aware of the high cost of stress in officer health and well-being when making budgetary decisions about the state's rapidly increasing inmate population.     

CAT FIGHTS AND GANG FIGHTS

This article uses Joan Acker's (1990) theory of gendered organizations to frame an analysis of the construction of occupational choice. Utilizing interview data collected from correctional officers (N = 36) working in a men's and a women's state prison, I examine these officers' strong preference for work in the men's prison. Reasons for preferring work with men draw on a comparison of male to female inmates in which the latter are seen as emotional and irrational, an ideal typical construction of the men's prison as a "real penitentiary,'and a feeling among officers that supervisors in women's prisons are less able to enforce institutional rules. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this case study for a theory of gendered occupational choice and gendered organizations.     

Women in the police: Integration or separation?

This study reports on the incorporation of female officers into the Atlanta Bureau of Police Services which until recently had an all-male occupational subculture. Fieldwork techniques included one-year of participant observation and the structured interviewing of 50 police officers.Findings indicated that women have been acculturated into the behavior and attitudes characteristic of the male police group. Specifically, they express increased cynicism and distrust of the public, and their behavior is abrupt with an unsympathetic demeanor. Conversely, women police officers have not been accepted as equally capable as male police officers by the latter. This discriminatory reaction results in a male overprotective attitude which is expressed in male domination of both detective and uniformed officers' work. These findings are congruent with the data from other studies which examined occupations in which women were numerically rare (tokens).The author concludes that because females emulate the male officers' ethos and behavior, and because they have not been accepted as equals in the police group, they have not greatly changed the male subculture of policing.     

Premarital sexual standards for different categories of individuals

A survey study of 666 undergraduate students was conducted to examine how standards for a target depend on the target's personal relevance, gender, and age. Whether male and female students have different sexual attitudes was also examined. Respondents were randomly assigned to complete a sexual permissive scale for one type of target. No evidence was found for a double standard, but age and personal relevance of the target affected the standards endorsed. Less permissiveness was endorsed for younger targets and targets who were “personal” (e.g., “sister” or “brother”) to the respondent. Furthermore, female respondents were less permissive than male respondents. Whether this gender difference reflects women's greater sexual conservatism or women's lack of power in the social structure is also discussed.     

Gender Differences in Job Challenge: A Matter of Task Allocation

Challenging job experiences are considered important prerequisites for management development and career success. Several researchers have suggested that women are given fewer challenging assignments than their male colleagues. To test this idea we performed two studies. The first examined possible gender differences in challenging job experiences at middle job levels. The results indicated that female employees had fewer challenging experiences in their jobs than their male counterparts. The second explored the proposition that differential assignment of challenging tasks to male and female subordinates underlies gender differences in job challenge. The results indeed suggest that supervisors' task allocation decisions are not gender‐blind and may result in women having fewer challenging job experiences than men.     

Working Nine to Nine: The New Women of Prime Time

Contemporary psychoanalytic gender theory has posited two psychic structures typical of the heterosexual family's gender arrangements: male defensive autonomy and female relational submissiveness. This essay looks at recent television shows that normalize defensive autonomy in women. These shows, and the young women they reach, are products of a “stalled” feminist revolution and an impoverished cultural imaginary that offers its subjects, male and female, only these two split positions.     

Combining Egalitarian Working Lives with Traditional Attitudes: Gender Role Attitudes in Taiwan,Japan, and Korea

In a simple theoretical framework, egalitarian gender role attitudes emerge as more and more women participate in the labor market. Most advanced Western nations enjoy relatively gender-egalitarian working environments, and consequently more egalitarian gender attitudes than their East Asian counterparts. Women in East Asian societies, on the other hand, are said to support both the conditions resulting in stagnant female labor-force participation and traditional attitudes toward gender roles. In Taiwan, however, women are more economically active than in two other East Asian societies—Japan and South Korea—even though women in all three societies favor the traditional gender division of labor. Thus, in Taiwan, women experiencing inconsistencies between their active working lives and their traditional values. This study hypothesizes that this inconsistency, or the coexistence of the old and the new, is reflected in the very mind-set of women. Using comparative data from the 2006 East Asian Social Survey, we analyzed the gap between responses to questions on gender attitudes in relation to working conditions, and other general gender role attitudes. We found there were significant differences in the size of these gaps. Taiwanese women expressed more egalitarian views insofar as the questions were concerned with practical economic interests, while they retained their basic traditional attitudes towards gender roles in their homes. This gap is larger in Taiwan than in Japan or South Korea.