Gender Bias

Talking to an Expert

An interview with Dr. Jennifer Leigh Disney, Department Chair and Professor of Political Science; Director, Women's and Gender Studies Program at Winthrop University. She has taught women and gender studies for over ten years. She provided an interesting and informative perspective on the gender wage gap. 

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Sexual Division of Labor 

Dr. Disney shared the historical social and cultural factors regarding marital status and the wage gap.  “It really goes back to the assumptions of a sexual division of labor between women and men. Historically men have been expected to be the Breadwinners who would work outside the home to earn enough money for a family wage. they earned so that they could take care of themselves their wives and their children.  So women's roles in that sexual division of labor where to stay in the home and to be non wage-earning Housewives…..it's a productive labor / reproductive labor divide. Productive labor has historically been done by men for a wage outside the home. Reproductive labor has been done historically by women for no wage inside the house and that has led to many of the instances of the wage Gap.”

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Bias towards family responsibilities

Caring for children and balancing homelife, Dr Disney explains, is still perceived to fall on the women. She states, “It's kind of like when a woman is running for president and that woman may have young kids and the media person may say how will you balance career with your family but never have we asked a man running for president or running for public office, how will you manage your career and your family because that's always been assumed to be women's that's also part of that dynamic.” 

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Stereotyping

Dr. Disney believes that stereotyping still affects which type of occupation women go into: “What majors or what careers have tended to attract women and what majors and careers have tended to attract men overtime and why is that?  It has a lot to do with gender-based assumptions of stereotype that begin from the from birth and child-rearing and parenting and family relations and permeates Society…I definitely think boys and girls should be raised with a sense of gender justice, gender equality. So if you require your son to do chores, require your daughter to do whatever chores he was required- equivalent chores. I want my son to know that the entire world are his options. What he wants to do and what he wants to be able to find his passions and move in that direction. My dad once advised me to find something you like to do that someone is willing to pay you for, that's the best way to be happy but also make sure it leads to paid work so that you can take care of yourself. It would be a shame if parents are raising their kids to have all options open for sons and not also for daughters- and that means all options. If my son wants to be a nurse, I don't need to call it a male nurse he can just be a nurse. The fact that we say male nurse means that the career of nurse is already gender bended. The english word nurse if we tell our audience to close your eyes and picture a nurse, they are going to pick a woman. If I tell them to close your eyes and picture a picture a doctor, they are going to picture a man. We have to undo their stereotypes so that our sons and daughters do feel equal options in their choices thru K-12, college, graduate school, and beyond.

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Advantages of Pay Transparency 

Dr. Disney spoke about how the South Carolina University system handles pay equity.  “the state of South Carolina, all public universities, anybody making over $50,000 a year is public information you can search by University. In South Carolina and you can see what other people are making. If your boss offers you a promotion you can look online and see what other people who are doing this job right now are making. It goes back to that transparency point, then you can argue- yes I'd love to take that position as long as I make a comparable salary because I know, due to transparency, what is being made by other women and men in this field. Publishing that data publicly allows workers to better negotiate for a fair contract or a fair wage” 

Closing the Wage Gap
The last thing that Dr. Disney touched on was that the best approach to solve the wage gap. She believed we need to work on two fronts- creating stronger laws forcing companies to be transparent about pay, and changing our culture and society views on women's roles. She states, “Legal change helps, no doubt, but legal change, like equal pay for equal work, will only help when women and men are doing the same work. I think we also have to work on that cultural change. I feel like we have to pursue always two prong strategy of legal change and cultural change in families and society”.