Gender And The Professions

This book examines gender and professions in the 21st century. Historically the professions encompassed law, medicine and the church, all of which excluded women from participation. Industry and the 20th century introduced new professions such as engineering and latterly information technology skill and, whilst the increase in credentialism and accreditations open up further avenues for professions to develop, many of the ‘newer’ professions exhibit similar gendered characteristics, still based on a perceived masculine identity of the professional workers and the association of the professional with high level credentials based on university qualifications. In contrast, professions such as teaching and nursing, characterized as women’s professions which reflected women’s socially acceptable role of caring, developed as regulated occupations from the late 19th century. Since the 1970s and the women’s movements, anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation and policies have aimed to break down the gendered bastion of the professions and grant women entry. With growing numbers of women employed in a range of professions and the political importance of gender equality gaining prominence globally, Gender and the Professions also considers how women and men are faring in a diverse range of professional occupations. Aimed at researchers, academics and policy makers in the fields of Professions, Gender Studies, Organizational Studies and related disciplines. Gender and the Professions provides new insights of women’s experiences in the professions in both developed and less developed countries and in professions less often explored.

The literature on gender and professions shows that professional careers continue to be impacted by gender – albeit with important differences among professions and countries. Much less researched is the issue of the significance of gender and age-cohort or generation to professional work. Gender, Age and Inequality in the Professions explores men’s and women’s experiences of professional work and careers through an intersectional lens by focusing on the intersection of gender and age. The chapters explore different professions – including Medicine, Nursing, Law, Academia, Information Technology and Engineering – in different Western countries, in the present and over time. Through original research, and critical re-analysis of existing research, each of the chapters explores the significance of gender and age-cohort or generation to professional work, with particular attention to professionals just entering professional careers, those building professional careers, and comparisons of men and women in professions across generational cohorts. The book contributes to literature on inequalities in the professions by demonstrating the ways in which gender and age converge to confer privilege and produce disadvantage, and the ways in which gender inequality is reproduced, and disrupted, through the activities of professionals on the job. The book constitutes a departure point for future research in terms of theoretical perspectives and empirical findings on how gendered and age-related processes are produced and reproduced in particular organisational, professional and socio-cultural contexts. To enhance generational understanding, relationships and collaboration in educational institutions, organisations and professions, the book ends with a section on policy recommendations for educators, professionals, professional organisations as well as policy- and decision-makers. This book will also appeal to students and researchers in the fields of Sociology, Gender Studies, Organisational and Management Studies, Law, Medicine, Engineering and Information Technology as well as related disciplines.

A study of the experiences of women of color law school faculty and the effect of race and gender on legal education. This book is the first formal, empirical investigation into the law faculty experience using a distinctly intersectional lens, examining both the personal and professional lives of law faculty members. Comparing the professional and personal experiences of women of color professors with white women, white men, and men of color faculty from assistant professor through dean emeritus, Unequal Profession explores how the race and gender of individual legal academics affects not only their individual and collective experience, but also legal education as a whole. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative empirical data, Meera E. Deo reveals how race and gender intersect to create profound implications for women of color law faculty members, presenting unique challenges as well as opportunities to improve educational and professional outcomes in legal education. Deo shares the powerful stories of law faculty who find themselves confronting intersectional discrimination and implicit bias in the form of silencing, mansplaining, and the presumption of incompetence, to name a few. Through hiring, teaching, colleague interaction, and tenure and promotion, Deo brings the experiences of diverse faculty to life and proposes several mechanisms to increase diversity within legal academia and to improve the experience of all faculty members. Praise for Unequal Profession “Fascinating, shocking, and infuriating, Meera Deo’s careful qualitative research exposes the institutional practices and cultural norms that maintain a separate and unequal race-gender order even within the privileged ranks of tenure-track law professors. With riveting quotes from faculty across a range of institutional and social positions, Unequal Profession powerfully reminds us that we must do better. I saw my own career in this book—and you might, too.” —Angela P. Harris, University of California, Davis “A powerful account of inequality in legal academia. Quantitative data and compelling narratives bring to life the challenges and roadblocks in gaining not just entry and tenure but also respect for the voices of minority women within the academy. There are no easy remedies, but reading this book is a good place to start for lawyers and law professors to understand what minority women face and which practices can increase the odds of success.” —Bryant G. Garth, University of California, Irvine “Unequal Profession should be mandatory reading for everyone in legal academia . . . . By providing concrete evidence of systemic discrimination, Meera Deo illuminates a long-standing problem needing to be remedied.” —Sarah Deer, University of Kansas

In this book, the author builds on decades of complex research to examine the gender pay gap and the unequal distribution of labor between couples in the home. The author argues that although public and private discourse has brought these concerns to light, the actions taken - such as a single company slapped on the wrist or a few progressive leaders going on paternity leave - are the economic equivalent of tossing a band-aid to someone with cancer. These solutions, the author writes, treat the symptoms and not the disease of gender inequality in the workplace and economy. Here, the author points to data that reveals how the pay gap widens further down the line in women's careers, about 10 to 15 years out, as opposed to those beginning careers after college. She examines five distinct groups of women over the course of the twentieth century: cohorts of women who differ in terms of career, job, marriage, and children, in approximated years of graduation - 1900s, 1920s, 1950s, 1970s, and 1990s - based on various demographic, labor force, and occupational outcomes. The book argues that our entire economy is trapped in an old way of doing business; work structures have not adapted as more women enter the workforce. Gender equality in pay and equity in home and childcare labor are flip sides of the same issue, and the author frames both in the context of a serious empirical exploration that has not yet been put in a long-run historical context. This book offers a deep look into census data, rich information about individual college graduates over their lifetimes, and various records and sources of material to offer a new model to restructure the home and school systems that contribute to the gender pay gap and the quest for both family and career. --

The presence of women in the practice of medicine extends back to ancient times; however, up until the last few decades, women have comprised only a small percentage of medical students. The gradual acceptance of women in male-dominated specialties has increased, but a commitment to improving gender equity in the medical community within leadership positions and in the academic world is still being discussed. Gender Equity in the Medical Profession delivers essential discourse on strategically handling discrimination within medical school, training programs, and consultancy positions in order to eradicate sexism from the workplace. Featuring research on topics such as gender diversity, leadership roles, and imposter syndrome, this book is ideally designed for health professionals, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, hospital directors, board members, activists, instructors, researchers, academicians, and students seeking coverage on strategies that tackle gender equity in medical education.

This impressive and original study is one of the first books to combine mainstream sociology with feminism in exploring the subject of the professions and power. This is an important addition to the corpus of feminist scholarship... It provides fresh insights into the way in which male power has been used to limit the employment aspirations of women in the middle classes. - Rosemary Crompton, University of Kent

What is it like to work as a classical musician today? How can we explain ongoing gender, racial, and class inequalities in the classical music profession? What happens when musicians become entrepreneurial and think of themselves as a product that needs to be sold and marketed? Gender, Subjectivity, and Cultural Work explores these and other questions by drawing on innovative, empirical research on the working lives of classical musicians in Germany and the UK. Indeed, Scharff examines a range of timely issues such as the gender, racial, and class inequalities that characterise the cultural and creative industries; the ways in which entrepreneurialism – as an ethos to work on and improve the self – is lived out; and the subjective experiences of precarious work in so-called ‘creative cities’. Thus, this book not only adds to our understanding of the working lives of artists and creatives, but also makes broader contributions by exploring how precarity, neoliberalism, and inequalities shape subjective experiences. Contributing to a range of contemporary debates around cultural work, Gender, Subjectivity, and Cultural Work will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of Sociology, Gender and Cultural Studies.