Workplace Gender Inequality Still Alive

In this February 2010 article from EHS Today, Laura Walter reminds us that workplace gender inequalities are still prevalent in the United States and in other industrial nations around the world.  Sociologists from The University of Washington believe that these inequalities are created by facets of national social policy that shape expectations in the workplace.

In the book Gendered Tradeoffs:  Family, Social Policy and Economic Inequality in Twenty-One Countries, Becky Pettit and Jennifer Hook argue that inequality in the workplace for women exists.  This book analyzes levels of women's employment, number of hours worked, wage equality, and occupational integration.

According to Pettit, "our argument is gender inequality in the workplace is in a large part due to bearing and rearing children.  There are economically successful women everywhere, but exactly how women manage the dual demands of work and home vary.  The biggest differences come when people have children, and when those children are young."