Unit A- Blog 2

Sex segregation is the separation of individuals based on their sex or gender. The way in which I am analyzing it is in the work place. There are many jobs, occupations and careers that are socialized for men and women. By socialized I mean that our society structures these rolls for men and women through social norms and constructs. In the article Analyzing Gender, it discusses how males and females are socially constructed since they are early children. Our society stresses the difference between genders through socialization, even as small as pink and blue. One other area it talks about is when boys and girls are children they often spend most of their time with their mothers. Hess and Ferree state that, “males become more individuated than females. This is because defining themselves as males requires psychological separation…” They go on to explain how these types of early socialization in their lives allow for males and females to pick up different characteristics. One example they used was the separation described above socializes maleness to reject feminism. It goes on to explain that the mother spending a majority of time with children also defines a roll as a caretaker for the female gender. These social differences happen in many other ways and continue on throughout their life eventually effecting individuals’ occupations. It is very clear in our society that there are certain occupations that are predominantly male or female. Some examples are nurses, administrative assistants, teachers, construction workers, etc. Another area that is directly related to sex segregation is also the pay. Statistically men make more than women for completing the same job duties and in general. In fact, women currently make 77% of what men do right now (NPR, May 10, 2009).

At Arizona State University we see some of these socializations and examples of sex segregation. One example I have noticed is that when I have an advisor appointment, it is generally a female that books my appoint when I call in and ask. Often when I arrive for my appointment a female is in an administrative assistant or secretary type roll for the advisors. Another example I have observed is at the student payment center. Every time I have gone to make a payment it was a female cashier and females at all of the other clerk centers. One of my friends was in the engineering department and informed me that there was a minimal amount of female students and teachers in his program. The last example that I have noticed is the public transportation at ASU. The light rail is nearly always operated by men, along with the Orbit and bus system too. In the article Analyzing Gender, it discusses how men generally get the more “lucrative” jobs like full time public bus jobs, while women get the part time jobs like school bus drivers. This example is also pretty familiar to me. My mother was a bus driver throughout my early childhood. The reason she chose that career was because it worked around her schedule to where she would have time to get us ready for school and be home right after we arrived from school. Therefore, school bus drivers are affected by sex segregation because it is a social norm for women to have the availability for their children.

Gender roles throughout my life have been pretty general to our society’s. My mother stayed home during our early childhood while my father worked. My dad has always been in a manager and leadership job in a business environment, which is a trait associated with the male gender. My mom then began working as a school bus driver because it allowed second income, but also allowed time for her to set us off to school and to be home in time to prepare dinner. My mom certainly buys into the gender stereotype that goes along with cooking. My mom always cooked every night and my dad worked all day. As I became older though, my mom’s job began growing into a career and she became a career woman after we were basically old enough to fend for ourselves.

At school socialization was probably the most noticeable looking back. There were boys lines and girls lines, pink clothing with flowers and dresses versus males wearing athletic and sports type clothing. During my elementary education I only had one male teacher. Teaching in my eyes is one of the most sex segregated jobs still to this day. Everyone I know that is now finishing up school and has become a teacher has been female. Also, on the subject of teachers, every principal I ever had has been a man. Schooling also segregates sports, just like the rest of our society.

Some of the examples I have seen at work are typical as well. A majority of women are in administrative roles, HR roles and a limited amount in leadership roles. In my field especially there is a lopsidedness of the male to female ratio. I am in Loss Prevention for a retailer and apprehend shoplifters. This job consists of becoming physical when necessary and having to demonstrate authority when arresting shoplifters. Most the time I have only had one or two females on the large teams I have been apart of.

I think this socialization is related to patriarchy because it continues to demonstrate that the father or male is in authority a majority of the time. The social authority is demonstrated in the upper management, the principal, authoritative roles, etc.

The wage gap still continues although more men are unemployed for several reasons. The first reason that makes the most sense to me is that statistically men make more than women, so letting them go first would be an easy and business smart decision. Another reason was due to the nature of the jobs being cut such as construction, manufacturing and financial services. A reason that was also discussed on a youtube video titled "Wage Gaps," an individual discusses the notion that women choose careers that pay less (i.e. teaching), and another stated that some women are passive during the hiring process and don't negotiate enough. The last reason, which was discussed on NPR, on May 10, 2009, was because they are taking second jobs which are pretty low wage jobs.