Women in Professional Life Up in the morning I must rise Before I’ve time to rub my eyes. With half-pin’d gown, unbuckled shoe, I haste to milk my lowing.

Women in Professional Life

Up in the morning I must rise

Before I’ve time to rub my eyes.

With half-pin’d gown, unbuckled shoe,

I haste to milk my lowing cow.

But, Oh! It makes my heart to ake,

I have no bread till I can bake,

And then, alas! It makes me sputter,

For I must churn or have no butter.

The hogs with swill I too must serve;

For hogs must eat or men will starve.

Ruth BelknapDover, NH1782

© Dr. Brenda K. Findley 2008; all rights reserved

The 1800sThe 1800sThe Civil War / The Rise of the Industrial EraThe Civil War / The Rise of the Industrial Era

While the men were gone to fight in the Civil War, women flocked to the factories looking for work.

Many of them continued to work after the men returned.

The 1800sThe 1800s

Increasingly, women moved into clerical positions.

Some new professional fields were filled almost entirely by women.

1900s – 1920s1900s – 1920s

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World War IIWorld War II

The 1950s – 1970sThe 1950s – 1970s

The Equal Pay Act The Equal Pay Act of 1963of 1963

”No employer … shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions…..”

The Civil Rights Act of 1964The Civil Rights Act of 1964

Prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin , including:

• Hiring;• Promoting;• Firing

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Currently enforces the laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age , including:• Hiring;• Promoting;• Firing;• Setting wages;• Testing;• Training; • Harassing

Executive Order No. 11246 (1965) Executive Order No. 11246 (1965) “Affirmative Action”“Affirmative Action”

President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered all executive agencies to require federal contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." This marked the first use of the phrase "affirmative action."

Executive Order No. 11375 (1967) Executive Order No. 11375 (1967) Amending Executive Order No. 11246, Amending Executive Order No. 11246,

Relating to Equal Employment OpportunityRelating to Equal Employment Opportunity

” It is the policy of the United States Government to provide equal opportunity in Federal employment and in employment by Federal contractors on the basis of merit and without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.”

Two Landmark CasesTwo Landmark Cases

Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. (1970)U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Ruled that jobs need to be "substantially equal" but not "identical" to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer could not, for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men.

Corning Glass Works v. Brennan (1974)U.S. Supreme Court

Ruled that employers cannot justify paying women lower wages because that is what they traditionally received under the "going market rate." A wage differential occurring "simply because men would not work at the low rates paid women" was unacceptable.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Place a chair against a wall. Have the person stand just in front of the chair, then bend over until their back is horizontal and their head rests against the wall also. Then, ask them to pick up the chair while straightening their back, without pushing off against the wall with their head.

Men find this impossible because of their higher center of mass, while women have no difficulty.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978)(1978)

Bans employment discrimination against pregnant women.

Pregnant women cannot be fired, denied a job or a promotion, nor can they be forced to take a pregnancy leave if they are willing and able to work.

The EEOC v. “Hooters”The EEOC v. “Hooters”

Hooters says women, not the food, are their product, making it legal to hire only female waiters.

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Significant Sexual Harassment LawsuitsSignificant Sexual Harassment LawsuitsTompkins v. Public Service & Gas Co. (1977)

Established quid pro quo and employer liability

Brown v. The City of Guthrie (1981)Established “Hostile Environment” as a component of sexual harassment

Robinson v. Jacksonville Ship Yard (1991)Nude pin-ups in the workplace can constitute a hostile environment

Ellison v. Brady (1991)Established the “Reasonable Woman” criterion.

Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth Kimberly (1998)Made hostile work environment as serious as quid pro quo in sexual harassment suits.

The Civil Rights Act of 1991The Civil Rights Act of 1991

Allowed for recovery of punitive damages in cases where the complaining party demonstrated that an employer had engaged in discriminatory practices with "malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of an aggrieved individual.”

Kolstad v. American Dental Association Kolstad v. American Dental Association (1999)(1999)

The Supreme Court determined that by using the phrase “reckless indifference,” Congress meant to authorize punitive damages whenever an employer was aware of its obligations under Title VII but engaged in unlawful disparate treatment of employees.

The Salary Issue….The Salary Issue….

In 1950 33.9% of women participated in the labor force.

By 1998 59.8% of women were working outside the home.

In 2008 women make up about 48% of the labor force.


“I don’t get the salary the men clerks do, although this day I am six hundred sales ahead! Call this justice? But I have to grin and bear it, because I am so unfortunate as to be a women.”

Iowa shoe saleswoman, 1886

“Women as rule don’t see job promotion – their emotions are secure in a limited job.”

Handbook for Supervisors, 1968


Since the passage of the Equal Pay Act (1963) the wage gap has narrowed, but it is still significant.

Women earned 59% of the wages men earned in 1963; in 2005 they earned 81% of men's wage.

Several explanations for the wage gap have been offered.


Possibility #1. Many older women work in jobs still subject to the attitudes and conditions of the past.

In 2006 women under age 25 working full-time earned 94% of men's salaries.

Women older than 25 earned 80% of what men made.


Possibility #2. Women are less likely to be perceived as being reliable in the workplace.

In 1998 the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 5.1% of women were absent in an average work week, compared with 2.7% of men.


Possibility #3. Women are less likely to be consistent in their career development.

In 1998 the U.S. Department of Labor reported 4.5% of families have a father who stays at home, while 30% of mothers leave their jobs to care for children.


Possibility #4. Women are more likely to choose lower paying jobs.


Possibility #5. Welfare reform in during the 1990s has pushed an additional group of less-able women into the workforce.


Possibility #6. Innate differences between the sexes mean that women don’t seek high-risk jobs, or don’t perform them as well.


Possibility #7. Sexism is alive and well in the workplace.

As long as we continue to see court cases relating to sexual harassment, discrimination in employment practices, and unfair pay practices, reasonable people will make this assumption.


Possibility #8. Unconscious bias continues to interfere.

Unconscious bias may also be the reason that women still do the majority of the housework and child-rearing – making it harder for them to compete effectively in the workplace.


Possibility #8 (continued). Unconscious bias continues to interfere.

Ambitious

Am-bitch-ous


For men, ambition is considered a necessary part of life.

Women are more likely to be demure when praised for their achievements.


Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing Lives by Dr. Anna Fels

Cultural ideals of femininity may be the underlying problem.

To appear feminine, women must provide or relinquish scarce resources to others.

“The mandate that females provide recognition to males is a basic requirement of the white, middle-class notion of femininity.”


Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing Lives by Dr. Anna Fels

Between the ages of 20 – 40 women must deal with the hidden requirement to relinquish ambitions that will enhance only themselves.

Federal AgenciesFederal Agencies

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

• Wage and Hour Division, US Dept of Labor

• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

• National Labor Relations Board (governs relations between unions and employers in the private sector)

Lawsuit Limitations and RemediesLawsuit Limitations and RemediesSTATUTE LIMITATIONS ON FILING

SUITREMEDIES

Title VII / Pregnancy Discrimination Act

Within 90 days of right to sue letter (from EEOC)

Back pay; reinstatement; compensatory & punitive damages; injunctive relief; attorney’s fees.

Equal Pay Act Two years after last discriminatory act; three years if act was willful

Up to two years back pay; liquidated (double) damages; injunctive relief; attorney’s fees.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Two years after last discriminatory act; three years if act was willful

Back pay; liquidated (double) damages; injunctive relief; attorney’s fees.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Two years after last discriminatory act; three years if act was willful

Back pay; liquidated (double) damages; injunctive relief; attorney’s fees.

Women in the Workplace

THE END

Women in Professional Life Up in the morning I must rise Before I’ve time to rub my eyes. With half-pin’d gown, unbuckled shoe, I haste to milk my lowing.

Documents

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