I Didn’t Hear the Fat Lady Sing
Posted by knbarrett on October 26, 2009
Listen up ladies and gents, the battle is over. “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” a study by Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress, boldly declares:
The battle of the sexes is over. Men and woman overwhelmingly agree on what they want in life, and how they view their roles in marriage, as parents, and in their jobs.
The battle has been replaced by the “Negotiation Between the Sexes.” No longer locked in competition, men and women are negotiating everything from work to family to elder care.
I should be shouting “hip hip hooray,” right? Unfortunately, my pesky Gen Y cynicism is exposing itself. I don’t think that the battle is over. The transformation within the household is not being reflected in the market. The declaration fails to acknowledge that gender relations exist beyond the household. Women and men may be “negotiating” and “sharing” household responsibilities, but gender disparities outside the household are alive and well.
Let’s take women’s economic participation, for example. Here’s what we know:
- Labor Market Sex Segmentation. Although my favorite female heroines on TV are world-class surgeons and high-powered lawyers, the top five professions for women in 2008 were: administrative assistants, registered nurses, elementary teachers, middle school teachers, and cashiers and retail salespersons.
- Gender Wage Gap. It’s well known that women continue to make less than 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. What is not always reported, though, is how this inequality adds up over time. The gender wage gap results in a $434,000 wage loss over a woman’s 40-year career.
- Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. I may not worry about being chased through the office by male colleagues who want a peek at my panties like in Mad Men, but that doesn’t mean the war on sexual harassment has been won. In a recent poll, 31 % of women workers reported they had been harassed at work. Of those women, 43 % were harassed by a supervisor and 27 % by an employee senior to them.
If we’ve entered a new phase of “negotiation” why the persistent inequalities? In my readings of the headlines, women still risk being fired if they try to “negotiate” equitable pay. And, there must be some fear of retribution behind the fact that 62 % of women who are harassed never take action.
The gains that women have made are important, but it’s premature to say the “battle” is over. It will not be over until greater gender equality is achieved in all areas of life: economic, political, and social.
