Good Service & motherhood penalty
Part A
What I got from the essay doing gender “Giving Good Service” is that the another was trying to make a connection between gender and how it affects people’s definition and of what good service is. She discusses how gender affects ones behavior in their job. I like her example of the waitress, because female waitresses arose from the stereotype that women provide a motherly and caring vibe. Because of this women’s behavior changes to adapt to the stereotype. Another example used was the police officer in which is female officers are not seen at the same superiority as male officers and therefore are not given the same respect or seriousness. Hall also discusses how gender is used to determine whether male or female would be more beneficial for the business to earn. She brings up women’s jobs such as housekeeping, nanny, waitress, or bartender because women are seen as caregivers or sex symbols. The gender is used as a tool to benefit the business or customers. Business really add to this idea in that they make provocative uniforms for their female employees to wear rather then the males. This can be seen today in food industries such as hooters. I am pretty certain that the men do not walk around in bras or belly shirts. In the NY Times employees from hooters discussed how degrading the uniform was and that refusing to wear it is not an option and will lead to be fired from the job. I believe the excuses business use to defend themselves is that they are trying to appeal to the customer however they are not realizing the message they are sending out to their employees and young men and women. A big problem that arises is harassment that comes with particular job such as waitress or bartending. Superiors will inform employees that flirting and sex appeal is a requirement of their job. I find this completely outrageous and don’t understand why this is being accepted in today society. We must step away from money being more important than our self-respect and dignity.
Part B:
Budig and England explore how motherhood affects employed women’s wages. They come to the realization that there is in fact a wage penalty for motherhood. Through their research they give five explanations as to why mothers wages are affected. The first reason as to why women are not offered more money or earn less is because employers believe that mother hood causes women to lose job experience. Women move from full time positions to part time or take time off to care for children or take maternity leave. Budig and England’s research (pg205) showed that men suffer no such penalty even after having children. Although most business owners see time off for mothers as a negative, Budig and England see the positives of mothers taking time off to care for their children. The idea presented here is that “caring labor” equals “productive adults” who later contribute to economic productivity. Higher pay goes to women who are deemed qualified because of their seniority which is a result of their work attendance. The research shows that the wages of women who take time off or “lose work experience” are in fact affected and lowers chances of better pay or more hours. The second reason for wage penalty is due to mothers moving into “mother friendly” jobs. Most times women will exchange a higher paying job for a lower paying job due to the fact that the work is less demanding or allows them more time off. It is believed that motherhood results to lower productivity, the third reason ties into the stigma is that mothers are exhausted from their home duties or they are less pro-active at work because they are in fact storing energy so they are able to do what’s know as second shift work. Childbearing Women are seen as unreliable due to their need to check in with their children, go to appointments and take sick leave for both themselves and their children. This is the reason why women try to find mother friendly jobs; they acquire flexible hours or jobs that have onsite day care. The fourth reason behind the reason for un fair wages is due to discrimination from employers. Along with all of the previous reasons the authors state that employers find it distasteful to employ mothers. Examples of employers discriminating against mothers is by placing them in jobs with less benefits minimal promotion as well as giving them minimal hours or minimal pay. Lastly the last reason for the wage penalty for motherhood is the idea that it is the characteristics of the women and not so much the discrimination from the employer. Budig and England state that women are more likely to have children because they feel motherhood will bring more satisfaction to their lives then their careers.
