"Sex segregation" in the workplace means that women and men have very different expectations and it is not socially acceptable (or wasn't) to cross those boundaries. I took another class over the summer similar to this one in which we discussed women in education and how this really affected the fields that women enter into. I think this has a lot to do with the sex segregation at ASU. There are a very small number of Professors that are women in the physical sciences and engineering fields. This is because of the lack of women in the educational courses, as well as discouragement from social boundaries to enter these fields. Women are not educated in these errors and continue to get degrees in other areas so males will consistently dominate the field.
At home, gender roles play a major part of our life. I go to work full time, just like my boyfriend, but it always seems that my work is not as tiring or difficult as his. After the power battle, I end up doing the laundry and cleaning, while cooking dinner and doing my homework and he can "relax" and mentally prepare for his next day of work. When is my relaxing supposed to happen? When I'm knee deep in my last semester of college textbooks? Although I make more money than he does and he benefits from this, it kills him inside that he is not the "head of the household" on his tax forms.
At work, I am in a very female dominated field (Property Management) but am surrounded by males in the construction and acquisitions sector of my company. There are currently no women that work in either of these fields. Women are shifted automatically into the Property Management side of the business. I'm sure that this is not a coincidence that only males are interested in construction and women are only interested in Management... however, personally I don't complain because I love my job. In my office there are females and one male, until you get to the maintenance team, which consist of 4 male technicians and one female HOUSEKEEPER.
I am happy to say that I don't face very much sex segregation at school because my degree is pretty even as far as male and female participation. I haven't experienced anything that has been uncomfortable for me because I was a female, besides learning about the injustice that is occurring around us everyday between males and females.
After listening to "Moms become Breadwinners As Job Losses Hit Men", I believe that the gender gap still occurs because the women are not ready to give up their responsibilities as a housewife, but still having to support their family. 14% of full-time working mothers have to take on a second job, and then return home to finish their "second shift" at home by cooking dinner and cleaning up after their children. This is really affecting women because they don't have as much time for their children as they used to. 4 out of 5 of the job cuts have been men because men dominate the fields that need to cut labor (construction, car companies, etc.) On a positive note, 75% of the health care industry is women and the industry is booming in this economy. However with the women still making less than men (77 cents to every dollar), they have to work harder than ever before.
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