Critical Questions of Race and Gender - Essay Example

15 December Race and Gender Diverse social positions, economics and political access That diverse socialpositions affect economics and political access cannot be denied. Generally, diverse social positions (or social class) are associated with individual life chances (Lamanna & Riedmann 49). In other words, social class affects the opportunities individuals have for accessing decent work, education, marriage, childrearing, health care, pensions, and other economic and social benefits. Social position defines access to economic resources through the quality of education and subsequent employment opportunities. In its turn, income influences family life, organization, and economic changes. Political access is a matter of social class, too: although all individuals, regardless of their social status, are granted the individual right to vote and express their political interests, political power opportunities directly depend on social status. Therefore, social status and position is the direct prerequisite for meeting one’s economic and social objectives and the principal factor of one’s individual and professional success. Why women in all races seek to increase their participation in the labor market The growing number of women in the labor force has already become a routine reality. More and more women are becoming executives, entrepreneurs, and specialists in various fields of professional performance. The reasons why women seek to increase their participation in the labor market are varied, but there are at least five common factors that make them choose their housework orientation and enter the labor market. First, female participation in the labor market has already become the source of “enhanced” social status and even prestige among women (Lim 204). Women consider their participation in the labor market as status enhancing and want to be perceived as advanced members of their society (Lim 203). Secondly, better access to education drives women to become employed: for many of them, their participation in the labor market is the principal instrument of professional self-realization. Third, female participation in the labor market is an additional guarantee of their independence and autonomy. Fifth, women’s increased participation in the labor force helps to resolve the ongoing conflict between female productive and reproductive roles – put simply, women choose a definite path of individual development, which they are willing to pursue (Lim 204). Female and male-dominated occupations: Explaining the differences Some occupations are predominantly female, whereas some are predominantly male. These differences in professional male-female domination are not easy to explain, but several answers are possible. First, individuals rate prestige of particular jobs in relation to gender of various jobholders (Beyard-Tyler & Haring 194). In simple terms, men hold different perceptions about jobs and choose those, which are believed to be more prestigious than others: for example, it is not prestigious for a male worker to be a nurse in a nursing house. Second, for decades, women lacked sufficient opportunities to enter colleges and universities and obtain a professional degree; for this reason, many occupations were “closed” to them. Third, female-dominated occupations are directly related to the service relationships – contemporary society believes that women possess interpersonal communication characteristics and talents needed to build and maintain these relationships (Grimshaw 10). Fourth, numerous female-dominated professional cover a diverse set of working contexts and conditions, and women enter these professions because they are capable of adjusting their talents and skills to differentiated occupational conditions (Grimshaw 11). Finally, established gender stereotypes do not let women enter male-dominated occupations, even when they have everything needed to succeed in these professions. The term “glass ceiling” has already become a definitive feature of professional reality for thousands of working women. Affirmative Action is losing favor in the United States Affirmative action was developed and implemented to provide job applicants with equal employment opportunities, irrespective of their individual characteristics like gender, race, or age. However, affirmative action ideas are losing favor in the United States, because many people consider affirmative action as a form of reverse discrimination. Namely, affirmative action does not reduce racial or gender disparities in professional environments but, on the contrary, provides some applicants with additional privileges and preferences, because of their skin color. On the one hand, the U.S. Constitution forbids granting preferential treatment, based on one’s racial, ethnic background, gender, age, or other individual features (Schulman). However, affirmative action presupposes granting preferences to individuals of ethnic and racial backgrounds that are considered discriminated against. On the other hand, Americans do not accept the principles of compensatory justice, which are at the core of the Affirmative action ideas: that is, affirmative action is an instrument of compensating African American and Asian workers for years of discrimination and abuse, which they suffered over the course of the U.S. history (Schulman). Younger generations are not willing to give up their equal rights for the sake of compensating other job applicants for the losses they never committed or caused. For these reasons, affirmative is becoming one of the most problematic solutions to the social inequality issues in the U.S. Women, men, family, and housework Women are choosing work over family. Some of them are even able to earn more than their husbands. However, at times, when women earn more than their husbands, it could be more rational for them to concentrate on housework. First, and the simplest, housework is justified, whenever husbands are eager and succeed in earning enough money to support their families. Second, housework is justified, when the comparative advantage of being a housewife is higher than that of being a well-paid professional. That is, a woman who enters the labor market but fails to cope with her housework may lose much more than when she does not earn additional income but concentrates on her roles of a housewife. Third, when the family’s use of labor at home and in the market is optimal, a woman can concentrate on being a housewife (Chichilnisky 831). Any family faces trade-offs, trying to decide how much of its labor to use at home and how much to leave to the marketplace (Chichilnisky 831). The family reaches an optimal use of labor, when it produces sufficient amount of family services (housework) and, simultaneously, its income allows purchasing all necessary consumer goods in the market. Fourth, at some point, a working woman reaches the point of disutility – when her work no longer brings satisfaction or threatens her marriage – and this is where a woman may leave her job and concentrate on housework. Finally, if a job is well-paid but does not provide opportunities for professional growth, this may also lead a woman to quit her professional endeavors. Works Cited Beyard-Tyler, K. & Haring, M.J. “Gender-Related Aspects of Occupational Prestige.” Journal of Vocational Behavior, 24.2 (1994): 194-203. Print. Chichilnisky, G. “The Gender Gap.” Review of Development Economics, 12.4 (2008): 828- 844. Print. Grimshaw, D. The Future of Female-Dominated Occupations. OECD Publishing, 1998. Lamanna, M.A. & Riedmann, A. Marriages and Families: Making Choices in a Diverse Society. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2008. Lim, L.L. “Female Labor-Force Participation.” United Nations, n.d. Web. 15 December 2010. Schulman, M. “Is There a Different Way to Frame the Debate Over Race-Based Preference?” Santa Clara University, 2010. Web. 15 December 2010. Read More