Gender and Organizations/ Motherhood Penalty
In the reading “Doing Gender by Giving ‘Good Service’” the author Elaine Hall discusses about two identifiable approaches to the relationship between gender and organizations. These two approaches are connected to one another and I feel that are based on the perception of the people and their expectations. Both the customer and the organization play a big role into these gender roles and expectations. One of those approaches is the defining of gender in organization distinguished as incongruity. To further explain what gendered in organization looks like Elaine Hall explains and gives the example of the waitress and waiter example. Elaine Hall explains that it is more stressful for waiters than waitresses because the data showed that waiters get insulted more. Later on the author explained that waiters who were interviewed explained that waitresses get insulted more often because they are viewed as servant and sex appeal. Also another way is having the mindset that female customers are more stressful than males, because there is a perception that female customers are more demanding. Those are the examples of how organizations are gendered. The next approach to the relationship between gender and organizations is gendered work roles. In the waitering service waitresses are usually seen as sex objects and often the waitresses are instructed to approach customers in a friendly, flirty approach. At restaurants that are female servers it is seen as an obligatory job flirt. But it is also seen as a less of a male’s job, so males tend to be more reserved. I saw that both the approaches of icongruity and gendered work roles go hand by hand because since waitresses are seen as sex objects and servants because they are requested to flirt with the costumers then customers have the chance to offend them, harass them and make them feel less than them like their servant. The actions that most restaurants request from these waitresses are the outcome of the violations some customers have against waitresses. These women are seen with less respect than any job, it is unfair after all.
In the reading “The Wage Penalty for Motherhood” by Michelle Budig and Paula England they discuss about the difference wage between mothers and fathers due to motherhood. In this essay they spoke about motherhood penalty that exist in the United States and also in the United Kingdom. I had no idea there was a “motherhood penalty”, which honestly makes no sense. But Budig and England explained the reasons to why these countries have such penalty for mothers. This penalty also depends if the female is a first time mother or has two or more children. Fathers in the other hand, has no penalty against them to affect their wage or at times they have an increase of wage after their child is born. The motherhood penalty ranges from four percent to six percent of wage decrease for mothers of one child. The more children the higher the percentage gets. It ranges from twelve percent to fifteen percent of wage decrease for mothers that have two or more children. Now that is mind blowing, because that is quiet a high percentage and it affects their income a lot. The reasons stated for this motherhood penalty are the following, companies feel that mothers have less experience than non mothers, are less productive and may work less. The companies believe that mothers have less experience than those who do not have children or are not mothers (fathers) because of the maternity leave, to need to stay with the child, doctor’s appointments all that makes it hard for a mother to always be at work to obtain all that constant job experience. Also the believe that mothers are less productive because they might be tired of the duties they do at home or also might be storing energy for when they arrive home, to have energy for the work at home that awaits them. Also, companies believe that mothers will spend their work time worrying about their child instead of concentrating on work related issues. Lastly, that mothers work less, they mentioned on their essay that mothers might work less because they might have to call out sick to deal with their child’s sickness or appointments. These reasons that were stated to why there is a motherhood penalty do occur but fathers do not pay the same price mothers have to pay. But also there is a reason why we receive “paid sick days”, among other benefits. Women already get paid less than men in general and now are getting paid even less just for producing children. This mostly sounds like a discrimination against women. Lastly they also stated that mothers tend to ask for less demanding occupations to have fewer duties since they consider motherhood to be an “extra shift”.
