Ageism at Work looks at how ageism plays out in the labour market and how it intersects with sexism from the perspective of both older workers and employers.
Few time periods in the past five decades match the intensity of intergroup conflict that people around the world are currently experiencing. Polarized attitudes around various sociopolitical issues, such as gender equality and immigration, have dominated the media and our lives. Furthermore, these powerful social dynamics have also impacted the places where we work and intensified existing strains on workers and workplaces. To address these issues and improve organizational climates, more theories, research and collaborations to understand these phenomena are needed. The volumes in this series will describe and instigate scholarship that advances our understanding of diversity in organizations. In recognition of the centennial anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted American women the right to vote and the subsequent struggle for women of color to exercise it, this volume features the personal narratives of recognized scholars in the field who have advanced understanding of gender at work. In this way, we appreciate, and gain perspective on, the rewards and challenges of this essential scholarship and the lives of those who engage in it. The combination of these narratives is an exciting and meaningful exploration of the study of gender and its intersection with other marginalized social identities at work that authentically captures the experiences of scholars in the field and inventively pushes our understanding of diversity in organizations.
Today, more American women than ever before stay in the workforce into their sixties and seventies. This trend emerged in the 1980s, and has persisted during the past three decades, despite substantial changes in macroeconomic conditions. Why is this so? Today’s older American women work full-time jobs at greater rates than women in other developed countries. In Women Working Longer, editors Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz assemble new research that presents fresh insights on the phenomenon of working longer. Their findings suggest that education and work experience earlier in life are connected to women’s later-in-life work. Other contributors to the volume investigate additional factors that may play a role in late-life labor supply, such as marital disruption, household finances, and access to retirement benefits. A pioneering study of recent trends in older women’s labor force participation, this collection offers insights valuable to a wide array of social scientists, employers, and policy makers.
The literature on gender and professions shows that professional careers continue to be impacted by gender – albeit with important differences among professions and countries. Much less researched is the issue of the significance of gender and age-cohort or generation to professional work. Gender, Age and Inequality in the Professions explores men’s and women’s experiences of professional work and careers through an intersectional lens by focusing on the intersection of gender and age. The chapters explore different professions – including Medicine, Nursing, Law, Academia, Information Technology and Engineering – in different Western countries, in the present and over time. Through original research, and critical re-analysis of existing research, each of the chapters explores the significance of gender and age-cohort or generation to professional work, with particular attention to professionals just entering professional careers, those building professional careers, and comparisons of men and women in professions across generational cohorts. The book contributes to literature on inequalities in the professions by demonstrating the ways in which gender and age converge to confer privilege and produce disadvantage, and the ways in which gender inequality is reproduced, and disrupted, through the activities of professionals on the job. The book constitutes a departure point for future research in terms of theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on how gendered and age-related processes are produced and reproduced in particular organisational, professional and socio-cultural contexts. To enhance generational understanding, relationships and collaboration in educational institutions, organisations and professions, the book ends with a section on policy recommendations for educators, professionals, professional organisations as well as policy- and decision-makers. This book will also appeal to students and researchers in the fields of Sociology, Gender Studies, Organisational and Management Studies, Law, Medicine, Engineering and Information Technology as well as related disciplines.
In the new knowledge-based economy, information technology is a major field of employment. However, the fast pace of technological innovation, globalization, and the volatile stock market have made IT an increasingly risky business for some employees more than for others. This volume examines how women and older workers in small IT companies are disproportionately vulnerable to economic uncertainty within their industry. Drawing on original survey and interview data, the authors explore how gender and age affect work and workplace culture to produce a fresh contribution to the literature on inequality.
Questions about the causes or sources of work stress have been the subject of considerable research, as well as public fascination, for several decades. Earlier interest in this issue focused on the question of whether some jobs are simply more inherently stressful than others. Other questions that soon emerged asked whether some individuals were more prone to stress than others. The Handbook of Work Stress focuses primarily on identifying the different sources of work stress across different contexts and individuals. Part I focuses on work stressors that have been studied for decades (e.g., organizational-role stressors, work schedules) as well as stressors that have received less empirical and public scrutiny (e.g., industrial-relations stress, organizational politics). It also addresses stressors in the workplace that have become relevant more recently (e.g., terrorism). Part II of the Handbook covers issues related to gender, cultural or national origin, older and younger workers, and employment status, and asks how these characteristics might affect the experience of workplace stress. The adverse consequences of these diverse work stressors are manifold, and questions about the possible health consequences of work stressors were one of the major historical factors prompting early interest and research on work stress. In Part III, the individual and organizational consequences of work stress are considered in separate chapters. Key Features: Affords the most broad and credible perspective on the subject of work stress available The editors are all prominent researchers in the field of work stress, and have been instrumental in defining and developing the field from an organizational-psychological and organizational-behavior perspective International contributors are included, reflecting similarities and differences from around the world Chapter authors from the United States, Canada, England, Sweden, Japan, and Australia have been invited to participate, reflecting most of the countries in which active research on work stress is taking place The Handbook of Work Stress is essential reading for researchers in the fields of industrial and organizational psychology, human resources, health psychology, public health, and employee assistance.
Although women have made important inroads in science and engineering since the early 1970s, their progress in these fields has stalled over the past several years. This study looks at women in science and engineering careers in the 1970s and 1980s, documenting differences in career outcomes between men and women and between women of different races and ethnic backgrounds. The panel presents what is known about the following questions and explores their policy implications: In what sectors are female Ph.D.s employed? What salary disparities exist between men and women in these fields? How is marital status associated with career attainment? Does it help a career to have a postdoctoral appointment? How well are female scientists and engineers represented in management? Within the broader context of education and the labor market, the book provides detailed comparisons between men and women Ph.D.s in a number of measures: financial support for education, academic rank achieved, salary, and others. The study covers engineering; the mathematical, physical, life, and social and behavioral sciences; medical school faculty; and recipients of National Institutes of Health grants. Findings and recommendations in this volume will be of interest to practitioners, faculty, and students in science and engineering as well as education administrators, employers, and researchers in these fields.
The vast changes in family life have often been blamed for declining morality and unhappy children. Drawing upon pioneering research with the children of the gender revolution, Kathleen Gerson reveals that it is not a lack of family values, but rigid social and economic forces that make it difficult to live out those values. The Unfinished Revolution makes clear recommendations for a new flexibility at work and at home that benefits families, encourages a thriving economy, and helps women and men integrate love and work.
Unique in the multiple approaches that it encompasses, this book includes discussions of both older and younger workers, employer and employee perspectives, generational and age diversity and international comparisons. It includes both conceptual argument and empirical research in order to provide insights into this important area.
New technologies?digitalization, artificial intelligence, and machine learning?are changing the way work gets done at an unprecedented rate. Helping people adapt to a fast-changing world of work and ameliorating its deleterious impacts will be the defining challenge of our time. What are the gender implications of this changing nature of work? How vulnerable are women’s jobs to risk of displacement by technology? What policies are needed to ensure that technological change supports a closing, and not a widening, of gender gaps? This SDN finds that women, on average, perform more routine tasks than men across all sectors and occupations?tasks that are most prone to automation. Given the current state of technology, we estimate that 26 million female jobs in 30 countries (28 OECD member countries, Cyprus, and Singapore) are at a high risk of being displaced by technology (i.e., facing higher than 70 percent likelihood of being automated) within the next two decades. Female workers face a higher risk of automation compared to male workers (11 percent of the female workforce, relative to 9 percent of the male workforce), albeit with significant heterogeneity across sectors and countries. Less well-educated and older female workers (aged 40 and above), as well as those in low-skill clerical, service, and sales positions are disproportionately exposed to automation. Extrapolating our results, we find that around 180 million female jobs are at high risk of being displaced globally. Policies are needed to endow women with required skills; close gender gaps in leadership positions; bridge digital gender divide (as ongoing digital transformation could confer greater flexibility in work, benefiting women); ease transitions for older and low-skilled female workers.