Instructions
Topic: Sex & Gender: Women in the Workplace

Background or Case Study

Gender has played a historically important role in the workplace environment for centuries; however, equality issues have emerged more prevalently in the American economy since the suffrage movement of the early 20th century. Sociologists have identified gender inequality in three areasgender work divisions, pay equity, and work-family balances. Generally, women have been reserved for less strenuous (manual labor and stress) jobs, thus providing divisions in labor based on gender. For example, “…in 2010, 97% of all secretaries in the U.S. were women; 87% of all engineers were men” (Kendall, 2012, p. 334). Further, women are consistently paid less than men, even in comparable jobs: “Overall, women who were full-time wage and salary workers earned about 79 cents for every dollar by men in 2009.” Last, we see inequality in the work-life balance as women are usually identified as the primary caretaker for children and older parents, thus women often work a “double day” between the work and home.

In response to this information, prepare a written essay, which meets the following outcomes:

In your personal experience, do issues of gender work divisions, pay equity, and work-family balances exist? Provide specific examples.
Indicate how these realities impacted you or someone you know.
If you are unaware of specific examples, provide a thorough reflection of how these issues might impact you, your parents, or your children if they or you were affected.
Cited: Kendall, D. (2012). Sociology in our times (9th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Standard instructions

This week, you will compose a formal essay on the assigned topic. This write-to-learn activity will expect you to engage in an analysis of the topic as to promote assimilation and application of the major topics for this week. The essay must:

Be a minimum of 400500 words in length.
Exhibit college-level writing.
Include at least two references to external resources, i.e., textbook, course lectures, scholarly articles, or appropriate websites. (All references should follow proper citation rules in either APA or Turabian format.)