Blog 37
“Charting Our Progress” is a report released by the American Bar Association. In this report, the ABA states that, even though we all wish it would, time will not remedy the problem of under-representation of female lawyers. English agrees with this point and states that we must work to get rid of the gender gap ourselves. It is not something that will just go away on its own.
One big problem is the old school male attorneys. They were very much against the idea of women beginning to practice law. However, their reasons were not necessarily that they just did not want women practicing. Some felt that females were not strong enough to deal with practicing law. They tend to say that women are too nurturing to be good attorneys. However, this seems to make them better because their clients tend to believe them quicker than they do male attorneys.
It is also believed that women should not practice law because they lost too much time having to take care of their family. My answer to this is that the game of practicing law be slowed down. Also, concessions can be made to alleviate this problem.
Many female lawyers find it necessary to work part time. This is felt to be a big problem. They are then viewed as not being serious about their profession. Perhaps if the husbands would help with the family more, wives could commit more time to their profession.
In spite of old school male attorneys not being crazy about letting women into the field, the number of women going to law school increased from twenty-two percent in 1988 to forty-seven percent in 2003. Also, Fortune 500 companies that had female attorneys as their general counsel rose from 5.9 percent of the companies to 23.1 percent. I feel both of these increases are pretty substantial. (Word Count – 309)
Monday, December 14, 2009
Blog 36
Blog 36
Yes, I believe corporate America can lure women back into the workforce, but corporate America is going to have to change their ways in order to accomplish this. For far too long, women have been the ones on the short end of the stick in the workforce. Women must be paid the same as their male counterparts. If a woman is doing the same job as a man, then the pay must be the same.
Another big need for women in the workforce (and men, as well) is the option of a reasonable flex schedule. I say men as well because, if they are the caregiver, they need the same options. Let’s say the lady is fairly new in her job. She is not going to have much sick time built up yet. In fact, in many companies, you cannot take sick time or vacation time for up to six months after starting the job. This needs to change. Those receiving our care do not wait till we are able to take sick time or have the sick time built up. In other words, sickness does not take a holiday.
Something else that would help lure women would be flex scheduling regardless of whether they are caregivers or not. With fuel costs so unstable and the possible long distances people may have to drive to their places of employment, being able to work from home a day or two per week or even more would definitely help lure women back. I know of one lady who is in a low paying job right now and drives over sixty miles roundtrip to work each day. She makes just barely enough money to pay for her gasoline. She works in daycare, so she obviously could not work flex time from home, but working something like four ten hour days would help.
Offering day care at the place of employment or very nearby at either no cost or a drastically reduced cost would be a wonderful lure. Today’s child care costs make it cheaper in a lot of cases for women not to work.
Instituting these policies would definitely lure a lot more women back to the workforce. Women like to be made to feel they have something to offer just like men do, so let’s get them in the workforce. (Word Count – 388)
Yes, I believe corporate America can lure women back into the workforce, but corporate America is going to have to change their ways in order to accomplish this. For far too long, women have been the ones on the short end of the stick in the workforce. Women must be paid the same as their male counterparts. If a woman is doing the same job as a man, then the pay must be the same.
Another big need for women in the workforce (and men, as well) is the option of a reasonable flex schedule. I say men as well because, if they are the caregiver, they need the same options. Let’s say the lady is fairly new in her job. She is not going to have much sick time built up yet. In fact, in many companies, you cannot take sick time or vacation time for up to six months after starting the job. This needs to change. Those receiving our care do not wait till we are able to take sick time or have the sick time built up. In other words, sickness does not take a holiday.
Something else that would help lure women would be flex scheduling regardless of whether they are caregivers or not. With fuel costs so unstable and the possible long distances people may have to drive to their places of employment, being able to work from home a day or two per week or even more would definitely help lure women back. I know of one lady who is in a low paying job right now and drives over sixty miles roundtrip to work each day. She makes just barely enough money to pay for her gasoline. She works in daycare, so she obviously could not work flex time from home, but working something like four ten hour days would help.
Offering day care at the place of employment or very nearby at either no cost or a drastically reduced cost would be a wonderful lure. Today’s child care costs make it cheaper in a lot of cases for women not to work.
Instituting these policies would definitely lure a lot more women back to the workforce. Women like to be made to feel they have something to offer just like men do, so let’s get them in the workforce. (Word Count – 388)
Blog 35
Blog 35
I, for one, was absolutely thrilled to see the new policies set forth by the EEOC. The new policies apply to those people termed as caregivers. They can be a caregiver to any family member. I believe these policies are very important to both men and women. Some may cite their importance because females are the caregivers. I will, however, disagree with this. I, as a male, was a caregiver to my elderly parents for fourteen years. Whenever I had to take off work to take them to a doctor’s appointment or take care of some other matter for them, I had to use vacation or sick time. This was unfortunate. This, again, is somewhere where flexible work schedules would be great. If someone had to miss work for something like this, it would be great if they could somehow make up the time. People in the situation I was in do not always have the sick time or vacation to cover all the time they might have to take off. This is where these new policies will help.
Another reason this is so important is because current statistics show that 46 percent of today’s workforce is female. Since women seem to be the ones that carry the burden of taking care of sick children, they need this coverage. Another reason this is so important is because I heard a news story on TV this past week that said that more than half the population will be over age 65 in not too many years.
The one thing that worries me about this is compliance by all the companies in the United States. I feel confident that there will be companies that will somehow manage to find a loophole so they do not have to adhere to these new policies. These are the companies that do not really care about their employees. (Word Count - 312)
I, for one, was absolutely thrilled to see the new policies set forth by the EEOC. The new policies apply to those people termed as caregivers. They can be a caregiver to any family member. I believe these policies are very important to both men and women. Some may cite their importance because females are the caregivers. I will, however, disagree with this. I, as a male, was a caregiver to my elderly parents for fourteen years. Whenever I had to take off work to take them to a doctor’s appointment or take care of some other matter for them, I had to use vacation or sick time. This was unfortunate. This, again, is somewhere where flexible work schedules would be great. If someone had to miss work for something like this, it would be great if they could somehow make up the time. People in the situation I was in do not always have the sick time or vacation to cover all the time they might have to take off. This is where these new policies will help.
Another reason this is so important is because current statistics show that 46 percent of today’s workforce is female. Since women seem to be the ones that carry the burden of taking care of sick children, they need this coverage. Another reason this is so important is because I heard a news story on TV this past week that said that more than half the population will be over age 65 in not too many years.
The one thing that worries me about this is compliance by all the companies in the United States. I feel confident that there will be companies that will somehow manage to find a loophole so they do not have to adhere to these new policies. These are the companies that do not really care about their employees. (Word Count - 312)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Blog 34
Blog 34
Joan Williams in her articles and blog and Holly English in Gender on Trial both deal with something at length. That is latch key kids. The story of the 31 year old man from the Midwest is excellent in how he tells his employer that he will be gone from the office if things don’t change around there. He is telling his employer that he either is able to work a normal week and spend time with his family, or he will no longer be working there. This is a great picture of a man getting his priorities straight and realizing that his family comes first. If more men, and women for that matter, started all standing up to their employers in this way, I feel we would see a great deal of change in working conditions.
Something else very interesting out of the Williams material was the new idea that mothers are now coming to the conclusion that they should work harder when the children are younger and be home with them more as they get older. Childcare today is no longer just a babysitting service—the children are really being taught things from infancy on up. By the mothers working during this time and being home when the children get older, the children can learn a great deal in daycare including their social skills.
One thing that stuck out to me in Gender on Trial is how employment practices are really designed around the idea that a man will work forty or more hours per week and not worry about his family. This ideal has already done a great deal to destroy the family unit and, if not stopped, will totally destroy the family. What is even worse is how many women are now included in these employment practices.
I firmly believe that we, as a nation, are about to change our culture as it regards employment. We are going to see men not having to work as many hours. We are going to see men be able to drop everything to be able to go take care of a sick child. We are going to see a resurgence of the family as it was forty or more years ago.
Proof that this can happen lies in the major accomplishments we as a country have experienced over the last twelve months. We seriously considered having a female as our president. We also seriously considered having a female as vice president. Major changes are just around the corner. We did elect an African-American male to be our President.
We saw a resurgence in the number of people going to church eight years ago after the 9-11 catastrophes in New York and Pennsylvania. Our people know change is needed on many fronts and, I believe, those changes are just around the corner. (Word Count – 472)
Joan Williams in her articles and blog and Holly English in Gender on Trial both deal with something at length. That is latch key kids. The story of the 31 year old man from the Midwest is excellent in how he tells his employer that he will be gone from the office if things don’t change around there. He is telling his employer that he either is able to work a normal week and spend time with his family, or he will no longer be working there. This is a great picture of a man getting his priorities straight and realizing that his family comes first. If more men, and women for that matter, started all standing up to their employers in this way, I feel we would see a great deal of change in working conditions.
Something else very interesting out of the Williams material was the new idea that mothers are now coming to the conclusion that they should work harder when the children are younger and be home with them more as they get older. Childcare today is no longer just a babysitting service—the children are really being taught things from infancy on up. By the mothers working during this time and being home when the children get older, the children can learn a great deal in daycare including their social skills.
One thing that stuck out to me in Gender on Trial is how employment practices are really designed around the idea that a man will work forty or more hours per week and not worry about his family. This ideal has already done a great deal to destroy the family unit and, if not stopped, will totally destroy the family. What is even worse is how many women are now included in these employment practices.
I firmly believe that we, as a nation, are about to change our culture as it regards employment. We are going to see men not having to work as many hours. We are going to see men be able to drop everything to be able to go take care of a sick child. We are going to see a resurgence of the family as it was forty or more years ago.
Proof that this can happen lies in the major accomplishments we as a country have experienced over the last twelve months. We seriously considered having a female as our president. We also seriously considered having a female as vice president. Major changes are just around the corner. We did elect an African-American male to be our President.
We saw a resurgence in the number of people going to church eight years ago after the 9-11 catastrophes in New York and Pennsylvania. Our people know change is needed on many fronts and, I believe, those changes are just around the corner. (Word Count – 472)
Blog 33
Blog 33
We all believe that women have made fantastic strides in the legal profession. To the naked eye, it looks like they have. However, a 2008 study by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) shows that female attorneys still do not get the same caliber positions as male attorneys do. The women are still bypassed for management positions or partner positions in the law firms of today. I believe it is just a short matter of time till we see women as firm partners and managers, but it has not happened yet on a large scale. I think part of the reason for this is because there are still a lot of “old school” male lawyers in practice that still do not believe women can effectively practice law. Once this “old school” mentality is out of the firms, I believe we will see women advance much more rapidly.
Seeing Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court showed that progress is definitely being made in the area of women and law, but there is still a long way to go. Where women attorneys have come from is phenomenal, though. I think of how Sandra Day O’Connor said in her NPR interview that she tried hard to get a position in a firm when she got out of college. People would continually tell her they had no openings. There was one firm she really wanted to work for. The head of that firm had once had a woman lawyer. After he told her once that he had no opening and also no where to house her, she went back home and wrote him a letter explaining how much she wanted to work there. She did finally get the job, but shared a room with one of the secretaries. One of the partners in the firm was the attorney general in 1981 that recruited her to the Supreme Court, William French Smith. (Word Count – 324)
We all believe that women have made fantastic strides in the legal profession. To the naked eye, it looks like they have. However, a 2008 study by the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL) shows that female attorneys still do not get the same caliber positions as male attorneys do. The women are still bypassed for management positions or partner positions in the law firms of today. I believe it is just a short matter of time till we see women as firm partners and managers, but it has not happened yet on a large scale. I think part of the reason for this is because there are still a lot of “old school” male lawyers in practice that still do not believe women can effectively practice law. Once this “old school” mentality is out of the firms, I believe we will see women advance much more rapidly.
Seeing Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court showed that progress is definitely being made in the area of women and law, but there is still a long way to go. Where women attorneys have come from is phenomenal, though. I think of how Sandra Day O’Connor said in her NPR interview that she tried hard to get a position in a firm when she got out of college. People would continually tell her they had no openings. There was one firm she really wanted to work for. The head of that firm had once had a woman lawyer. After he told her once that he had no opening and also no where to house her, she went back home and wrote him a letter explaining how much she wanted to work there. She did finally get the job, but shared a room with one of the secretaries. One of the partners in the firm was the attorney general in 1981 that recruited her to the Supreme Court, William French Smith. (Word Count – 324)
Blog 32
Blog 32
When we think of lawyers, we think of people who seem to work all the time, usually males. We see lawyers in court, visiting with clients, and pouring over books and papers at the office all day. Then they go home and, if the family is lucky, he might sit down to supper with them, then give them all a quick kiss, and proceed to his study or home office to pour over papers and books till possibly the wee hours of the morning. He doesn’t worry about getting the children off to school in the morning, taking care of them if they get sick, or running the household.
Now, think about a woman lawyer that has children. We see her getting the kids ready for school in the morning, maybe taking them to school herself, and then going to work. She gets to work later than she should and gets busy. A couple of hours into the day, she gets a call from school that one of the kids is sick so she must leave and go take care of that child. That is the end of her work day at the office already. She is the one that runs the household. Additionally, she may clean the house, do the laundry, and do the grocery shopping.
Then we have the high power female attorney who has children. People look at her and wonder how she achieves so much as an attorney, supposedly has a great life with her husband and kids, and never seems to slow down. She is considered a suspect parent. What those considering her suspect may not know is that her office provides for things such a flex schedules or child care at the office where she can pop in and see her kids every so often. (Word Count – 301)
When we think of lawyers, we think of people who seem to work all the time, usually males. We see lawyers in court, visiting with clients, and pouring over books and papers at the office all day. Then they go home and, if the family is lucky, he might sit down to supper with them, then give them all a quick kiss, and proceed to his study or home office to pour over papers and books till possibly the wee hours of the morning. He doesn’t worry about getting the children off to school in the morning, taking care of them if they get sick, or running the household.
Now, think about a woman lawyer that has children. We see her getting the kids ready for school in the morning, maybe taking them to school herself, and then going to work. She gets to work later than she should and gets busy. A couple of hours into the day, she gets a call from school that one of the kids is sick so she must leave and go take care of that child. That is the end of her work day at the office already. She is the one that runs the household. Additionally, she may clean the house, do the laundry, and do the grocery shopping.
Then we have the high power female attorney who has children. People look at her and wonder how she achieves so much as an attorney, supposedly has a great life with her husband and kids, and never seems to slow down. She is considered a suspect parent. What those considering her suspect may not know is that her office provides for things such a flex schedules or child care at the office where she can pop in and see her kids every so often. (Word Count – 301)
Blog 31
Blog 31
From everything I have watched, listened to, and read whether connected with this class or not, it seems that an equitable balance between work and family is very hard to achieve regardless of the profession. From what we have learned in this class, I would say it is next to impossible in the field of law. And really, I don’t think I mean just lawyers. I think it is the same way for many law enforcement officers.
I don’t remember now if it was in this class or another class, or on a TV news report where I heard a story about a couple back east that seems to have come up with a good solution to allow both parents quality time with their children. The father gets up and goes to work like any other person. The mother stays home and gets the kids ready for school and takes them to school. She then proceeds to go to the law office where she works and works about six hours. Then she leaves work, picks the kids up at school, and spends quality time with them. Her husband returns home from work and they all eat supper together. Then, depending on the current need, she either goes back to the office or to her home office and completes her eight hour work day. Her husband cleans up after supper, helps the kids with any homework still not done, and gets them ready for bed. This gives him quality time with the children as well. I am sure this is a very rare situation, but it seems to be working. Both parents are able to work full time and spend quality time with their kids. Many people think of attorneys as workaholics, yet here is a case where the attorney does her job and makes a very good living at it.
I believe that if more companies would come up with solutions like the one I just related where possible, they would see their morale go way up. They would also see their employees spending less on health care because they would be happy. The children of their employees would really reap a lot of benefits by having quality time with both parents, not just one or the other. (Word Count – 378)
From everything I have watched, listened to, and read whether connected with this class or not, it seems that an equitable balance between work and family is very hard to achieve regardless of the profession. From what we have learned in this class, I would say it is next to impossible in the field of law. And really, I don’t think I mean just lawyers. I think it is the same way for many law enforcement officers.
I don’t remember now if it was in this class or another class, or on a TV news report where I heard a story about a couple back east that seems to have come up with a good solution to allow both parents quality time with their children. The father gets up and goes to work like any other person. The mother stays home and gets the kids ready for school and takes them to school. She then proceeds to go to the law office where she works and works about six hours. Then she leaves work, picks the kids up at school, and spends quality time with them. Her husband returns home from work and they all eat supper together. Then, depending on the current need, she either goes back to the office or to her home office and completes her eight hour work day. Her husband cleans up after supper, helps the kids with any homework still not done, and gets them ready for bed. This gives him quality time with the children as well. I am sure this is a very rare situation, but it seems to be working. Both parents are able to work full time and spend quality time with their kids. Many people think of attorneys as workaholics, yet here is a case where the attorney does her job and makes a very good living at it.
I believe that if more companies would come up with solutions like the one I just related where possible, they would see their morale go way up. They would also see their employees spending less on health care because they would be happy. The children of their employees would really reap a lot of benefits by having quality time with both parents, not just one or the other. (Word Count – 378)
Blog 30
Blog 30
Old school conventional views about leadership are pretty much pro male and anti female. While there have been changes in the last twenty to thirty years, many still view men as leaders far more than they do women. However, great strides are still being made. Several years ago, Geraldine Ferraro was a vice presidential candidate. Many thought that was the reason her running mate lost the election. At that time, our country was not yet ready for a female vice president or president. Now, in our most recent election, Sarah Palin was a vice presidential candidate and, I think, a large number of people would rather have seen her as the presidential candidate than John McCain. We may not be that far from seeing a woman presidential candidate actually make it past the primaries. After all, Hillary Clinton came fairly close.
If there is anything I have found in my years on this Earth, it is that there are just about as many different leadership styles as there are leaders. Some of these styles are great, and some are terrible. Many, however, fall somewhere in between these two locations. The worst styles are found when someone tries to lead like they feel someone would want them to lead. People can be influenced in how they lead by stereotypes. Stereotypes say that men should be leaders and women should be followers. This is very sexist and very much the opposite of what we have learned in this class. It is very important that people who want to lead think things through and decide the leadership style that is best for them.
According to Linda Tarr-Whelan, Fortune 500 companies that have more women in leadership roles have a thirty-four percent better return than do those companies that have less or no women in leadership. This definitely says something for the idea that women should be in more roles of leadership. Tarr-Whelan goes on to say that, if your company wants to succeed, it should have more women in the upper echelons of leadership. This, in my book, proves that women are far better leaders than most people make them out to be. They are very capable of filling leadership roles.
I mentioned earlier about old school leadership stereotypes. Unfortunately, these stereotypes also say that men are much more aggressive than women in leadership and that this would mean a disaster for anything a woman might lead. Linda Tarr-Whelan’s comment about the higher return for companies with females in leadership shows so very strongly that this stereotype is very wrong.
I also earlier touched on the idea that people striving to be leaders should think about themselves and what leadership style is best for them to use. I have had several female supervisors over the years and I have also had several male supervisors over the years. To this point in time, my female supervisors have often been far better than the male ones. Don’t get me wrong, though, they have all had flaws in their styles. However, several of my male supervisors have been micro micro managers. Yes, I did mean to use micro there twice as that is how they have been. One male supervisor in particular actually wanted to know when one of his employees went to the restroom. I think of one female supervisor I had whose leadership style was to never confront her employees. She might receive numerous complaints, but she hated confrontation, so she would not say anything. Instead, she would go after them on their annual evaluation. She was a very nice woman but she just needed to fine tune her leadership skills. Another female supervisor was fantastic! She believed in thanking her employees constantly for everything they did. She also very nicely spoke with her employees if there was a problem. She also made sure that, if an employee was overwhelmed with their workload, she got them help even if she was the one that helped the person. If it was a constant problem, then she would search for other remedies. That is the kind of leadership companies and organizations need. If someone sees that someone in leadership cares that much and is that willing to help them improve, they will improve and, thereby, increase the companies’ morale and revenue. I am not saying that women are definitely one way and men are definitely one way. I am just relating my experiences. I believe we could all find males in leadership that are great or terrible and we could also find the same in females in leadership. (Word Count – 762)
Old school conventional views about leadership are pretty much pro male and anti female. While there have been changes in the last twenty to thirty years, many still view men as leaders far more than they do women. However, great strides are still being made. Several years ago, Geraldine Ferraro was a vice presidential candidate. Many thought that was the reason her running mate lost the election. At that time, our country was not yet ready for a female vice president or president. Now, in our most recent election, Sarah Palin was a vice presidential candidate and, I think, a large number of people would rather have seen her as the presidential candidate than John McCain. We may not be that far from seeing a woman presidential candidate actually make it past the primaries. After all, Hillary Clinton came fairly close.
If there is anything I have found in my years on this Earth, it is that there are just about as many different leadership styles as there are leaders. Some of these styles are great, and some are terrible. Many, however, fall somewhere in between these two locations. The worst styles are found when someone tries to lead like they feel someone would want them to lead. People can be influenced in how they lead by stereotypes. Stereotypes say that men should be leaders and women should be followers. This is very sexist and very much the opposite of what we have learned in this class. It is very important that people who want to lead think things through and decide the leadership style that is best for them.
According to Linda Tarr-Whelan, Fortune 500 companies that have more women in leadership roles have a thirty-four percent better return than do those companies that have less or no women in leadership. This definitely says something for the idea that women should be in more roles of leadership. Tarr-Whelan goes on to say that, if your company wants to succeed, it should have more women in the upper echelons of leadership. This, in my book, proves that women are far better leaders than most people make them out to be. They are very capable of filling leadership roles.
I mentioned earlier about old school leadership stereotypes. Unfortunately, these stereotypes also say that men are much more aggressive than women in leadership and that this would mean a disaster for anything a woman might lead. Linda Tarr-Whelan’s comment about the higher return for companies with females in leadership shows so very strongly that this stereotype is very wrong.
I also earlier touched on the idea that people striving to be leaders should think about themselves and what leadership style is best for them to use. I have had several female supervisors over the years and I have also had several male supervisors over the years. To this point in time, my female supervisors have often been far better than the male ones. Don’t get me wrong, though, they have all had flaws in their styles. However, several of my male supervisors have been micro micro managers. Yes, I did mean to use micro there twice as that is how they have been. One male supervisor in particular actually wanted to know when one of his employees went to the restroom. I think of one female supervisor I had whose leadership style was to never confront her employees. She might receive numerous complaints, but she hated confrontation, so she would not say anything. Instead, she would go after them on their annual evaluation. She was a very nice woman but she just needed to fine tune her leadership skills. Another female supervisor was fantastic! She believed in thanking her employees constantly for everything they did. She also very nicely spoke with her employees if there was a problem. She also made sure that, if an employee was overwhelmed with their workload, she got them help even if she was the one that helped the person. If it was a constant problem, then she would search for other remedies. That is the kind of leadership companies and organizations need. If someone sees that someone in leadership cares that much and is that willing to help them improve, they will improve and, thereby, increase the companies’ morale and revenue. I am not saying that women are definitely one way and men are definitely one way. I am just relating my experiences. I believe we could all find males in leadership that are great or terrible and we could also find the same in females in leadership. (Word Count – 762)
Blog 29
Blog 29
Only four percent of all attorneys are minority. Of that number, even a smaller percentage are minority females. Minority women do not tend to stay with one law firm very long. This is a very sad thing. We would tend to think that, of all places, a law firm would be open, honest, and not prejudicial or bigoted toward their staff. This does not appear to be the case however. In fact, just the opposite seems to be what is happening. In “Why so Few Minority Women Stay at Law Firms,” many of these women say they have been neglected, excluded, and harassed.
A glaring example of how minority women are not treated properly is the case of the female Korean attorney. It seems the firm she worked for had a client who was thinking of firing that firm because they were not diverse. The firm had this attorney sit in on a meeting strictly as a figure head so the client could see they were diverse.
In another situation, a Native American attorney was asked where their tomahawk was. They were also asked if they were going to scalp anyone. Come on folks, get real!
Minority attorneys get very tired of this treatment very fast. Instead of putting up with it, they resign and go to another firm in the hope that things will be different there. Unfortunately, they often find the same situation elsewhere. Also, the firm has lost all the money it has invested in the attorney’s training and will have to spend that much more money to train the next person according to their firm’s practices.
As concerns the comparison between the readings and what the NPR news had to say, they were much the same. However, NPR tended to be more in depth and exposed more of the problems. (Word Count – 304)
Only four percent of all attorneys are minority. Of that number, even a smaller percentage are minority females. Minority women do not tend to stay with one law firm very long. This is a very sad thing. We would tend to think that, of all places, a law firm would be open, honest, and not prejudicial or bigoted toward their staff. This does not appear to be the case however. In fact, just the opposite seems to be what is happening. In “Why so Few Minority Women Stay at Law Firms,” many of these women say they have been neglected, excluded, and harassed.
A glaring example of how minority women are not treated properly is the case of the female Korean attorney. It seems the firm she worked for had a client who was thinking of firing that firm because they were not diverse. The firm had this attorney sit in on a meeting strictly as a figure head so the client could see they were diverse.
In another situation, a Native American attorney was asked where their tomahawk was. They were also asked if they were going to scalp anyone. Come on folks, get real!
Minority attorneys get very tired of this treatment very fast. Instead of putting up with it, they resign and go to another firm in the hope that things will be different there. Unfortunately, they often find the same situation elsewhere. Also, the firm has lost all the money it has invested in the attorney’s training and will have to spend that much more money to train the next person according to their firm’s practices.
As concerns the comparison between the readings and what the NPR news had to say, they were much the same. However, NPR tended to be more in depth and exposed more of the problems. (Word Count – 304)
Blog 28
Blog 28
I, for one, was absolutely at what Jeff Rosen wrote. I am not a journalist, not would I ever want to be one, but what he wrote would definitely solidify the idea that I would never want to be a journalist like him. There is an old saying that truly applies in this case. Sotomayor was “raked over the coals” in this article. I feel that Rosen proves in this article that, had he been given the opportunity, he would definitely have voted against anything that would help women and women’s rights. He certainly does not come across in this article as someone who thinks men and women are equal and that women and men can do the same jobs.
We are told in this article that Sotomayor is “a sharp interrogator and wanted attorneys to be on top of things.” Rosen portrayed this as something bad. Excuse me, but if I needed an attorney, I would definitely want that attorney to be a sharp interrogator and be on top of things! After all, it is my life and livelihood we are talking about. Perhaps Rosen should be on trial and have an attorney who doesn’t interrogate much and doesn’t care about being on top of things. I’m sure Rosen would not be a happy man.
Calling Sonia Sotomayor a “fiery Latina woman” is about as prejudicial as one can get. That statement alone is screaming for lawsuits citing slander and malicious prejudice.
If I had the time, I would jump at the chance to go back and see what Rosen said when Clarence Thomas was being considered for the High Court or when Samuel Alito was being considered. It would even be interesting to hear what he would have said about Antonin Scalia. My guess is that he would have praised the same attributes for which he criticized Sonia Sotomayor. (Word Count – 311).
I, for one, was absolutely at what Jeff Rosen wrote. I am not a journalist, not would I ever want to be one, but what he wrote would definitely solidify the idea that I would never want to be a journalist like him. There is an old saying that truly applies in this case. Sotomayor was “raked over the coals” in this article. I feel that Rosen proves in this article that, had he been given the opportunity, he would definitely have voted against anything that would help women and women’s rights. He certainly does not come across in this article as someone who thinks men and women are equal and that women and men can do the same jobs.
We are told in this article that Sotomayor is “a sharp interrogator and wanted attorneys to be on top of things.” Rosen portrayed this as something bad. Excuse me, but if I needed an attorney, I would definitely want that attorney to be a sharp interrogator and be on top of things! After all, it is my life and livelihood we are talking about. Perhaps Rosen should be on trial and have an attorney who doesn’t interrogate much and doesn’t care about being on top of things. I’m sure Rosen would not be a happy man.
Calling Sonia Sotomayor a “fiery Latina woman” is about as prejudicial as one can get. That statement alone is screaming for lawsuits citing slander and malicious prejudice.
If I had the time, I would jump at the chance to go back and see what Rosen said when Clarence Thomas was being considered for the High Court or when Samuel Alito was being considered. It would even be interesting to hear what he would have said about Antonin Scalia. My guess is that he would have praised the same attributes for which he criticized Sonia Sotomayor. (Word Count – 311).
Blog 27
Blog 27
The competency gap. What is it and how do we overcome it? As concerns attorneys, the competency gap may be a fabricated notion in many instances. For many years, the field of law was totally or nearly totally male. Then women started to decide they wanted to be lawyers. Unfortunately, this male dominated field had a large number of “good old boy” networks that were not about to let women in. Far too many of these men are still making it very hard for women to become successful in the practice of law. I think of one female lawyer I know personally who is an excellent lawyer. Her husband is also a lawyer. She got where she did because she and her husband became law partners, so she obviously did not have to fight a whole bunch of males for cases.
Another way in which the competency gap is portrayed is that female attorneys are often thought to not be as competent as men if they are married and have a family. Since it usually seems to be the mother and not the father that has to go pick up a sick child from school, or has to take care of the kids at other times, they are considered to not be as competent and able to handle the pressures of the profession. In reality, I believe the women are much more competent and able to handle the pressures of being an attorney or any other profession. Show me how many male attorneys could do everything that a married female attorney does. The men would buckle under the strain and pressure. For many years, the female has been called the weaker sex. They are, of course, called this by males. Males are truly the weaker sex. Until this fact is accepted and believed, the competency gap will always exist. (Word count – 309)
The competency gap. What is it and how do we overcome it? As concerns attorneys, the competency gap may be a fabricated notion in many instances. For many years, the field of law was totally or nearly totally male. Then women started to decide they wanted to be lawyers. Unfortunately, this male dominated field had a large number of “good old boy” networks that were not about to let women in. Far too many of these men are still making it very hard for women to become successful in the practice of law. I think of one female lawyer I know personally who is an excellent lawyer. Her husband is also a lawyer. She got where she did because she and her husband became law partners, so she obviously did not have to fight a whole bunch of males for cases.
Another way in which the competency gap is portrayed is that female attorneys are often thought to not be as competent as men if they are married and have a family. Since it usually seems to be the mother and not the father that has to go pick up a sick child from school, or has to take care of the kids at other times, they are considered to not be as competent and able to handle the pressures of the profession. In reality, I believe the women are much more competent and able to handle the pressures of being an attorney or any other profession. Show me how many male attorneys could do everything that a married female attorney does. The men would buckle under the strain and pressure. For many years, the female has been called the weaker sex. They are, of course, called this by males. Males are truly the weaker sex. Until this fact is accepted and believed, the competency gap will always exist. (Word count – 309)
Blog 26
Blog 26
There are several roles that men play in assisting women in the practice of law. Sadly, female attorneys sometimes feel the need to have a male attorney on their team to help win support and trust in her team. Female attorneys have been known to have male attorneys give their closing arguments in trials just because the male voice will be believed and respected much more than the female voice. Though there have been great strides over the last couple of decades in women performing the same jobs as men, our culture still tends, in a large part, to put more trust in males when it comes to the area of law. There are many female attorneys in practice that are as good as or even a lot better than their male counterparts, but our society still tends to be chauvinistic and lean toward the males. Because our society is no longer a society where one salary is sufficient, women are now in the workforce far more than ever before. Unfortunately, women are still not accorded the praise they deserve for doing their jobs so well.
Sadly, female attorneys may have to fight for power when working with male attorneys on a case. English shows us this in relating the story of a Washington, D.C. female attorney that had to fight not only the male attorney for power, but had to figure out some way to be heard by the client. The client was looking at the man and giving him the power.
One way in which males need to help females is by not asking the females to get them their cup of coffee or a Danish or something like that just because of the gender differences. I am a male secretary and I can tell you that this idea goes both ways. It may not be so much that the female is asked to get these for the male because of her gender, but because of her title. If, in a law firm, a male attorney asks a female attorney with less seniority than him to get him something, it may be partially because he feels he is too good to do this because of his seniority. I am often asked by males and females alike to do these kinds of tasks just because of the comparison between my title and their title. I realize this may not strengthen our argument, but this is the way I see it. Unfortunately, this may never end. (Word Count – 416)
There are several roles that men play in assisting women in the practice of law. Sadly, female attorneys sometimes feel the need to have a male attorney on their team to help win support and trust in her team. Female attorneys have been known to have male attorneys give their closing arguments in trials just because the male voice will be believed and respected much more than the female voice. Though there have been great strides over the last couple of decades in women performing the same jobs as men, our culture still tends, in a large part, to put more trust in males when it comes to the area of law. There are many female attorneys in practice that are as good as or even a lot better than their male counterparts, but our society still tends to be chauvinistic and lean toward the males. Because our society is no longer a society where one salary is sufficient, women are now in the workforce far more than ever before. Unfortunately, women are still not accorded the praise they deserve for doing their jobs so well.
Sadly, female attorneys may have to fight for power when working with male attorneys on a case. English shows us this in relating the story of a Washington, D.C. female attorney that had to fight not only the male attorney for power, but had to figure out some way to be heard by the client. The client was looking at the man and giving him the power.
One way in which males need to help females is by not asking the females to get them their cup of coffee or a Danish or something like that just because of the gender differences. I am a male secretary and I can tell you that this idea goes both ways. It may not be so much that the female is asked to get these for the male because of her gender, but because of her title. If, in a law firm, a male attorney asks a female attorney with less seniority than him to get him something, it may be partially because he feels he is too good to do this because of his seniority. I am often asked by males and females alike to do these kinds of tasks just because of the comparison between my title and their title. I realize this may not strengthen our argument, but this is the way I see it. Unfortunately, this may never end. (Word Count – 416)
Blog 25
Blog 25
I believe sexualized behavior is used as a weapon in just about every facet of life. We are talking right now more about the legal field, so I will go there for a while. I have been in two courtrooms in my lifetime (52 years). One time I was there as a potential juror and the second time I was there as an observer for another Justice Studies class I was enrolled in. I saw a marked difference in the messages the females attorneys were trying to convey as to what the male attorneys were trying to convey. The male attorneys were dressed in dark pinstriped suits both times. Both times the women were dressed in suits that had very tight skirts and very tight jackets. To me, I felt it was quite obvious these women were relying not so much on their true legal talents, but on their bodily attributes to get them ahead in the courtroom and win their case.
My wife and I watch a TV show on Sunday nights called Drop Dead Diva. This show revolves around a female attorney who actually has someone else living in her body. That someone else is the dead girlfriend of one of the male attorneys in the office. The attorney is full figured with long, dark hair. The girlfriend that now inhabits her body used to be a blonde model that wore very tight, very skimpy clothing. The female attorney was supposedly a very intelligent but not very nice woman before the transformation. The model was portrayed as the stereotyped dumb blonde. In that show is another female attorney who would give anything to have a fling with the male attorney who is the former boyfriend of the dead model. She uses sexualized behavior routinely. Her skirts are short and tight and her tops are tight and often show a considerable amount of cleavage. She thinks this is how she has to be to get ahead in the office and in the courtroom.
Unfortunately, I believe sexualized behavior is here to stay from both men and women. It is so embedded in our society that it may never be able to fly away.
(word count – 364)
I believe sexualized behavior is used as a weapon in just about every facet of life. We are talking right now more about the legal field, so I will go there for a while. I have been in two courtrooms in my lifetime (52 years). One time I was there as a potential juror and the second time I was there as an observer for another Justice Studies class I was enrolled in. I saw a marked difference in the messages the females attorneys were trying to convey as to what the male attorneys were trying to convey. The male attorneys were dressed in dark pinstriped suits both times. Both times the women were dressed in suits that had very tight skirts and very tight jackets. To me, I felt it was quite obvious these women were relying not so much on their true legal talents, but on their bodily attributes to get them ahead in the courtroom and win their case.
My wife and I watch a TV show on Sunday nights called Drop Dead Diva. This show revolves around a female attorney who actually has someone else living in her body. That someone else is the dead girlfriend of one of the male attorneys in the office. The attorney is full figured with long, dark hair. The girlfriend that now inhabits her body used to be a blonde model that wore very tight, very skimpy clothing. The female attorney was supposedly a very intelligent but not very nice woman before the transformation. The model was portrayed as the stereotyped dumb blonde. In that show is another female attorney who would give anything to have a fling with the male attorney who is the former boyfriend of the dead model. She uses sexualized behavior routinely. Her skirts are short and tight and her tops are tight and often show a considerable amount of cleavage. She thinks this is how she has to be to get ahead in the office and in the courtroom.
Unfortunately, I believe sexualized behavior is here to stay from both men and women. It is so embedded in our society that it may never be able to fly away.
(word count – 364)
Blog 24
Blog 24
I came away from my research with one main thought: Female lawyers are definitely in a catch-22 situation. Another way of saying it is that female lawyers have to deal with a double standard. I got the impression that if a female lawyer acts too aggressively, she will be considered a bully by her peers. By the same token, if she is not aggressive enough, she will be considered a wimp and will be ineffective in court. Those of us that are older have probably seen the TV show Matlock. Matlock’s daughter practiced law with him. She was often portrayed as being tough and, as a result, had no kind of home or social life.
An organization that exists to help female lawyers not only get ahead in their profession, but also to cope with issues, is the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). This organization is totally voluntary. NAWL publishes newsletters with very informative and educational articles for female lawyers. NAWL spends a lot of time focused on issues that are relevant at that time to female lawyers.
One thing I found in my research is that many female lawyers are leaving the profession. Some are leaving for maternity leave, while others are leaving because of issues with their children. Some other issues include the number of hours required of work and also the number of hours involved in being a good mother wife and mother. Many women are deciding it is more important to invest the hours in being a good wife and mother.
While female lawyers have come a long, long way in achieving equality with male lawyers, they still have a long way to go. The hardest part may still be to come. The women have to earn the same pay as men. Women have to be treated the same as men. Until this happens, true equality does not exist.
(word count – 314)
I came away from my research with one main thought: Female lawyers are definitely in a catch-22 situation. Another way of saying it is that female lawyers have to deal with a double standard. I got the impression that if a female lawyer acts too aggressively, she will be considered a bully by her peers. By the same token, if she is not aggressive enough, she will be considered a wimp and will be ineffective in court. Those of us that are older have probably seen the TV show Matlock. Matlock’s daughter practiced law with him. She was often portrayed as being tough and, as a result, had no kind of home or social life.
An organization that exists to help female lawyers not only get ahead in their profession, but also to cope with issues, is the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). This organization is totally voluntary. NAWL publishes newsletters with very informative and educational articles for female lawyers. NAWL spends a lot of time focused on issues that are relevant at that time to female lawyers.
One thing I found in my research is that many female lawyers are leaving the profession. Some are leaving for maternity leave, while others are leaving because of issues with their children. Some other issues include the number of hours required of work and also the number of hours involved in being a good mother wife and mother. Many women are deciding it is more important to invest the hours in being a good wife and mother.
While female lawyers have come a long, long way in achieving equality with male lawyers, they still have a long way to go. The hardest part may still be to come. The women have to earn the same pay as men. Women have to be treated the same as men. Until this happens, true equality does not exist.
(word count – 314)
Blog 23
Blog 23
I would cite Michelle Obama as the starting, and maybe ending, point of my discussion on women in law and/or politics and their dress. The NPR story we listened to of her was so fascinating. For so many years, possibly most of the life of our country, first ladies and other women in politics have dressed in a style considered to be very conservative. As I think back over the first ladies that have been in office during my lifetime, Mamie Eisenhower through Michelle Obama, it seemed like about all one ever saw them wearing was something plain and of a very conservative color such as gray, navy blue, or black. The only first lady I can remember as showing anything at all other than this was Jackie Kennedy. She could be seen once in a while in a bright print or at least something not so dingy. In the first months of the Obama administration, I used to hear Michelle Obama being compared to Jackie Kennedy. Jackie is the only other first lady Michelle could ever begin to be compared to. I have seen Michelle in several pictures in which she was wearing something that was anything but conservative and dreary. We have seen Michelle Obama in bright prints. We have seen her in evening gowns that were not navy, black, or gray. I remember one gown she wore that was sort of a tan in color. What a breath of fresh air! Don’t get me wrong. Some of our other first ladies have dressed in dark colors and have looked lovely. I think of Rosalyn Carter and Laura Bush. They can both wear dark, conservative colors and look bright and cheerful in them.
I get the impression that many female lawyers believe they need to dress in dark, conservative colors to look professional. I have not been in very many courtrooms, but the women in the ones I have been in dressed very conservatively. (word count – 326)
I would cite Michelle Obama as the starting, and maybe ending, point of my discussion on women in law and/or politics and their dress. The NPR story we listened to of her was so fascinating. For so many years, possibly most of the life of our country, first ladies and other women in politics have dressed in a style considered to be very conservative. As I think back over the first ladies that have been in office during my lifetime, Mamie Eisenhower through Michelle Obama, it seemed like about all one ever saw them wearing was something plain and of a very conservative color such as gray, navy blue, or black. The only first lady I can remember as showing anything at all other than this was Jackie Kennedy. She could be seen once in a while in a bright print or at least something not so dingy. In the first months of the Obama administration, I used to hear Michelle Obama being compared to Jackie Kennedy. Jackie is the only other first lady Michelle could ever begin to be compared to. I have seen Michelle in several pictures in which she was wearing something that was anything but conservative and dreary. We have seen Michelle Obama in bright prints. We have seen her in evening gowns that were not navy, black, or gray. I remember one gown she wore that was sort of a tan in color. What a breath of fresh air! Don’t get me wrong. Some of our other first ladies have dressed in dark colors and have looked lovely. I think of Rosalyn Carter and Laura Bush. They can both wear dark, conservative colors and look bright and cheerful in them.
I get the impression that many female lawyers believe they need to dress in dark, conservative colors to look professional. I have not been in very many courtrooms, but the women in the ones I have been in dressed very conservatively. (word count – 326)
Blog 22
Blog 22
Sonia Sotomayor has set somewhat of a precedent. While she is not the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, she is the first Hispanic woman to serve on the high court. Judge Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009. The judge graduated at the top of her class at Yale. When I first heard that she had been nominated to the Supreme Court, I found myself having to fight back some of the discriminatory and prejudicial comments that my father and grandfather might have said because she was, first a female, and secondly, Hispanic. I have long believed in the idea that, if a woman can do the job, she should be allowed to do it. Let’s face it; some women have done “traditional male jobs” far better than the men that used to do them. Of course, they should receive equal pay as well! The Honorable Judge Sotomayor is openly known to be a strong advocate for hiring Latinos wherever possible. I am openly in favor of hiring anyone into a position for which they are qualified. They certainly should not be passed by just because of their ethnicity or gender. Some people have said that they feel Judge Sotomayor is prejudicially in favor of minorities when ruling on cases. Some people are openly saying what my father and grandfather would have said about her being a woman and Hispanic. I remember reading in the past that derogatory things were said about Thurgood Marshall because he was the first African-American member of the Supreme Court. His record proves that he was a great Supreme Court Justice. It is really too early to accurately judge how Judge Sotomayor will be as a Supreme Court Justice. Let her sit on a few cases and see how she votes on them. Then and only then can her record be accurately judged.
(Word count – 319)
Sonia Sotomayor has set somewhat of a precedent. While she is not the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, she is the first Hispanic woman to serve on the high court. Judge Sotomayor was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2009. The judge graduated at the top of her class at Yale. When I first heard that she had been nominated to the Supreme Court, I found myself having to fight back some of the discriminatory and prejudicial comments that my father and grandfather might have said because she was, first a female, and secondly, Hispanic. I have long believed in the idea that, if a woman can do the job, she should be allowed to do it. Let’s face it; some women have done “traditional male jobs” far better than the men that used to do them. Of course, they should receive equal pay as well! The Honorable Judge Sotomayor is openly known to be a strong advocate for hiring Latinos wherever possible. I am openly in favor of hiring anyone into a position for which they are qualified. They certainly should not be passed by just because of their ethnicity or gender. Some people have said that they feel Judge Sotomayor is prejudicially in favor of minorities when ruling on cases. Some people are openly saying what my father and grandfather would have said about her being a woman and Hispanic. I remember reading in the past that derogatory things were said about Thurgood Marshall because he was the first African-American member of the Supreme Court. His record proves that he was a great Supreme Court Justice. It is really too early to accurately judge how Judge Sotomayor will be as a Supreme Court Justice. Let her sit on a few cases and see how she votes on them. Then and only then can her record be accurately judged.
(Word count – 319)
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Lee’s Blog 21
Perhaps the main, and most important, focus of The National Association for Female Correctional Officers is bringing a far greater awareness about two big issues confronting female corrections officers. One is sexual assault and the other is harassment. This goes right along with some of the recommendations presented by Britton. If a greater awareness of these two issues were brought to fruition, it would help decrease the dominance of males in the field of corrections officers. This would be accomplished by allowing the introduction and discussion of female issues into this profession. Both Britton and NAFCO agree that this has not yet happened.
If NAFCO’s proposed legislation passes, it would mean a zero tolerance policy meaning that each and every assault against female corrections officers would be prosecuted. Their hope is also that this would cause the accountability of officials within the prison to increase as regards failing to detect, reduce, prevent, and even punish the perpetrators of these assaults. It has been found that male corrections officers and male prison officials believe that the huge risk of harassment and sexual assault are just part of the territory for female corrections officers. The males believe it is the woman’s choice to work there, so they know the risks. I think a big reason the males feel this way is because they don’t run into the same issues female corrections officers do. Single mothers take on jobs as corrections officers because they need a wage they can actually live on and raise their children. NAFCO’s work has been endorsed by Britton.
Another bad thing about being a female corrections officer is that advancement opportunities often turn out very disappointing simply because women are passed over for supervisory and managerial positions because they have the commitments at home that men often do not have.
No doubt there are a huge number of issues female corrections officers must deal with each and every day. For this reason, reform is extremely necessary.
Perhaps the main, and most important, focus of The National Association for Female Correctional Officers is bringing a far greater awareness about two big issues confronting female corrections officers. One is sexual assault and the other is harassment. This goes right along with some of the recommendations presented by Britton. If a greater awareness of these two issues were brought to fruition, it would help decrease the dominance of males in the field of corrections officers. This would be accomplished by allowing the introduction and discussion of female issues into this profession. Both Britton and NAFCO agree that this has not yet happened.
If NAFCO’s proposed legislation passes, it would mean a zero tolerance policy meaning that each and every assault against female corrections officers would be prosecuted. Their hope is also that this would cause the accountability of officials within the prison to increase as regards failing to detect, reduce, prevent, and even punish the perpetrators of these assaults. It has been found that male corrections officers and male prison officials believe that the huge risk of harassment and sexual assault are just part of the territory for female corrections officers. The males believe it is the woman’s choice to work there, so they know the risks. I think a big reason the males feel this way is because they don’t run into the same issues female corrections officers do. Single mothers take on jobs as corrections officers because they need a wage they can actually live on and raise their children. NAFCO’s work has been endorsed by Britton.
Another bad thing about being a female corrections officer is that advancement opportunities often turn out very disappointing simply because women are passed over for supervisory and managerial positions because they have the commitments at home that men often do not have.
No doubt there are a huge number of issues female corrections officers must deal with each and every day. For this reason, reform is extremely necessary.
Lee’s Blog 20
The Lewis Prison incident is one that I can still remember. Two prison guards were taken hostage by inmates Randy Wassenaar and Steven Coy. The two men had obviously planned their escape, though it went very awry. Wassenaar had beaten a guard and stolen his uniform from him. That way, he was able to pose as a guard and get into the guard tower that overlooked the entire prison campus. He then took Lois Fraley and Jason Auld hostage. Because of the way Wassenaar gained access to the tower, the two guards were totally unaware and were not able to subdue him. Fraley related how the situation just didn’t seem right to her when Wassenaar asked to be let in the tower. She tells us that her “stomach just knotted up-it didn’t feel right.” She goes on to tell us that Auld hit the button to let Wassenaar in before she could even tell him of her feelings.
What happened from that point to fifteen days later was awful. Officer Auld was critically injured immediately. He was then kept in the tower for seven days. The inmates finally released him after seven days so he could be taken away and his critical injuries tended to.
What all Fraley said was very scary. She relates how she was raped repeatedly. She also tells us how she contemplated suicide after four days by using the pin of her name badge to puncture her wrist vein. Thankfully, she did not do this. In an effort to become so unappealing that the two inmates would not want to rape her anymore, she stopped washing. She also stopped drinking so she would not have to urinate in front of them. The inmates had been telling her when she could and could not urinate.
I don’t believe the turnkey chapter in Britton’s book describes the hostage situation at Lewis. In the book, corrections officers lived at the prisons quite often for days at a time. Their working conditions were not good. These guards worked a whole lot of hours—far more than they should. Thankfully, that is not the case today.
The Director of the Department of Corrections for the State of Arizona at that time was Dora Schriro. She had been on the job for less than a year when the hostage incident took place. Schriro and Governor Janet Napolitano were at the prison to greet Fraley when she was released. Schriro relates in this article how she found that a full one-fourth of the Lewis corrections officers could not even pass the lowest level of the competency test given to guards. I feel it is obvious from the way Auld allowed Wassenaar access right away that there needs to be more training for guards so they know how to handle situations like this one before they become situations like this one. This showed that the tower was not the safe place it should have been. Schriro really appears to be a no nonsense leader who won’t take anything from anyone. Because prisons have been gendered for such a long time as masculine structures, Schriro will definitely have her work cut out for her as far as proving herself and earning the respect she deserves is concerned. One of the newspapers in the Phoenix area showed the hairstyles that Schriro has had in the past and criticized her for them. Phoenix Magazine sexualized Schriro when they wrote about her personal life that included her love life and also how she loves to garden.
Gendered organizations are all around us. The treatment Schriro received is proof of that. In an ideally non-gendered organization, this would not be happening.
Britton definitely has some good ideas. She says that more training is needed. She also says that better policies are needed. According to Britton, better policies could avert future hostage situations by inmates. Better training should include specific training for men’s prisons and women’s prisons. There are too many situations that are different between the two.
Because of the fact that prisoners are subordinates to corrections officers, a prison is a total institution. A prison has a very distinct hierarchy. A prison is a place where that hierarchy must definitely be followed in an effort to keep things peaceful and quiet.
The Lewis Prison incident is one that I can still remember. Two prison guards were taken hostage by inmates Randy Wassenaar and Steven Coy. The two men had obviously planned their escape, though it went very awry. Wassenaar had beaten a guard and stolen his uniform from him. That way, he was able to pose as a guard and get into the guard tower that overlooked the entire prison campus. He then took Lois Fraley and Jason Auld hostage. Because of the way Wassenaar gained access to the tower, the two guards were totally unaware and were not able to subdue him. Fraley related how the situation just didn’t seem right to her when Wassenaar asked to be let in the tower. She tells us that her “stomach just knotted up-it didn’t feel right.” She goes on to tell us that Auld hit the button to let Wassenaar in before she could even tell him of her feelings.
What happened from that point to fifteen days later was awful. Officer Auld was critically injured immediately. He was then kept in the tower for seven days. The inmates finally released him after seven days so he could be taken away and his critical injuries tended to.
What all Fraley said was very scary. She relates how she was raped repeatedly. She also tells us how she contemplated suicide after four days by using the pin of her name badge to puncture her wrist vein. Thankfully, she did not do this. In an effort to become so unappealing that the two inmates would not want to rape her anymore, she stopped washing. She also stopped drinking so she would not have to urinate in front of them. The inmates had been telling her when she could and could not urinate.
I don’t believe the turnkey chapter in Britton’s book describes the hostage situation at Lewis. In the book, corrections officers lived at the prisons quite often for days at a time. Their working conditions were not good. These guards worked a whole lot of hours—far more than they should. Thankfully, that is not the case today.
The Director of the Department of Corrections for the State of Arizona at that time was Dora Schriro. She had been on the job for less than a year when the hostage incident took place. Schriro and Governor Janet Napolitano were at the prison to greet Fraley when she was released. Schriro relates in this article how she found that a full one-fourth of the Lewis corrections officers could not even pass the lowest level of the competency test given to guards. I feel it is obvious from the way Auld allowed Wassenaar access right away that there needs to be more training for guards so they know how to handle situations like this one before they become situations like this one. This showed that the tower was not the safe place it should have been. Schriro really appears to be a no nonsense leader who won’t take anything from anyone. Because prisons have been gendered for such a long time as masculine structures, Schriro will definitely have her work cut out for her as far as proving herself and earning the respect she deserves is concerned. One of the newspapers in the Phoenix area showed the hairstyles that Schriro has had in the past and criticized her for them. Phoenix Magazine sexualized Schriro when they wrote about her personal life that included her love life and also how she loves to garden.
Gendered organizations are all around us. The treatment Schriro received is proof of that. In an ideally non-gendered organization, this would not be happening.
Britton definitely has some good ideas. She says that more training is needed. She also says that better policies are needed. According to Britton, better policies could avert future hostage situations by inmates. Better training should include specific training for men’s prisons and women’s prisons. There are too many situations that are different between the two.
Because of the fact that prisoners are subordinates to corrections officers, a prison is a total institution. A prison has a very distinct hierarchy. A prison is a place where that hierarchy must definitely be followed in an effort to keep things peaceful and quiet.
Lee’s Blog 19
I was very enthralled at watching this clip of Geena Davis. I have always been a fan of hers, so I was very interested to hear what she had to say. Because she has three children, she became aware of how females were being depicted in the media and felt it was time to change that.
Being older than Geena Davis, I could relate to a lot of the things she said about older television. I must admit that I had not thought about it before. The one thing I had thought about before because I think it is so totally absurd the way she is presented is Miss Piggy. Giving a female pig cleavage is ridiculous. Giving a female animal of any breed other than a human cleavage is ridiculous for that matter. That is not for the children. That is meant for teenage and adult males. Stereotyping in the media is way out of control. She also brought up how the Smurfs were originally all male until one female came along. She was named Smurfette. This is a perfect example of stereotyping. Smurfette was supposedly ugly with ugly eyelashes until Papa Smurf performed plastic surgery, or “smurfurgery,” and transformed her into a beautiful blonde bombshell. In other words, if you are a female and not a blonde, you cannot be a “bombshell.” How ridiculous!
She also tells us that seventy-eight percent of senior girls do not like their bodies. A full one third of third graders have been on diets. Excuse me! Our media has portrayed females so ridiculously that our they are ruining the female part of our society. This brings to mind an incident back when I was about twenty. A fifteen year old girl in my church, who seemed to really have it together, committed suicide because she was made fun of all the time because, according to what she heard in the media, wasn’t a bombshell.
Geena Davis said exactly what Britton said; seeing these characters portrayed like this has spilled over into the way we act even as adults. This influences work in that men and women are often treated very differently in the jobs. Even male and female corrections officers and prisoners are treated differently. I hope this changes someday, the sooner the better.
I was very enthralled at watching this clip of Geena Davis. I have always been a fan of hers, so I was very interested to hear what she had to say. Because she has three children, she became aware of how females were being depicted in the media and felt it was time to change that.
Being older than Geena Davis, I could relate to a lot of the things she said about older television. I must admit that I had not thought about it before. The one thing I had thought about before because I think it is so totally absurd the way she is presented is Miss Piggy. Giving a female pig cleavage is ridiculous. Giving a female animal of any breed other than a human cleavage is ridiculous for that matter. That is not for the children. That is meant for teenage and adult males. Stereotyping in the media is way out of control. She also brought up how the Smurfs were originally all male until one female came along. She was named Smurfette. This is a perfect example of stereotyping. Smurfette was supposedly ugly with ugly eyelashes until Papa Smurf performed plastic surgery, or “smurfurgery,” and transformed her into a beautiful blonde bombshell. In other words, if you are a female and not a blonde, you cannot be a “bombshell.” How ridiculous!
She also tells us that seventy-eight percent of senior girls do not like their bodies. A full one third of third graders have been on diets. Excuse me! Our media has portrayed females so ridiculously that our they are ruining the female part of our society. This brings to mind an incident back when I was about twenty. A fifteen year old girl in my church, who seemed to really have it together, committed suicide because she was made fun of all the time because, according to what she heard in the media, wasn’t a bombshell.
Geena Davis said exactly what Britton said; seeing these characters portrayed like this has spilled over into the way we act even as adults. This influences work in that men and women are often treated very differently in the jobs. Even male and female corrections officers and prisoners are treated differently. I hope this changes someday, the sooner the better.
Lee’s Blog 18
Training for corrections officers consisted primarily of hands-on physical training. This training was usually administered by other male corrections officers. This is a formal training that all recruits are required to complete. Men and women are usually trained in the same classes, not separated. Reading Britton made me aware that the federal penal system has a lot more money than the states because the federal system receives money from the federal government. Perhaps because they appear to receive a better grade of training than state recruits, federal officers seem to be more satisfied in their positions. However, many of the officers said that their “real” training comes on the job.
Something I am just so surprised at is the number of officers who have said that other corrections officers had helped them, but that the inmates provided a good bit of their training. According to these officers, the inmates helped them learn their job quite willingly. That is probably because the inmates wanted peace and quite in their prison just as much as the officers do, if not more.
Most officers said that violence in the prisons was hugely exaggerated in their training. What was presented in training was so bad that it caused some recruits to withdraw from the program. A 1995 survey shows that ninety-one percent of the prisons surveyed had no violence in an entire year.
Men are much more likely than women to serve sentences for violent crimes. Men also tend to have a longer criminal history than women. Something else very interesting is that men tend to escape from custody a lot more than women.
A big problem with the training is that corrections officers continuously say that the training is pretty much based solely on male inmates in prisons. This means officers are not being trained correctly and that training programs need to change.
Another very interesting thing brought out in Britton’s study is that male and female corrections officers alike preferred to work in male prisons. They said this was because women tend to be much more emotional than the men do. Additionally, women’s complaints were viewed as being petty some of the time while men’s complaints were usually legitimate.
Training for corrections officers consisted primarily of hands-on physical training. This training was usually administered by other male corrections officers. This is a formal training that all recruits are required to complete. Men and women are usually trained in the same classes, not separated. Reading Britton made me aware that the federal penal system has a lot more money than the states because the federal system receives money from the federal government. Perhaps because they appear to receive a better grade of training than state recruits, federal officers seem to be more satisfied in their positions. However, many of the officers said that their “real” training comes on the job.
Something I am just so surprised at is the number of officers who have said that other corrections officers had helped them, but that the inmates provided a good bit of their training. According to these officers, the inmates helped them learn their job quite willingly. That is probably because the inmates wanted peace and quite in their prison just as much as the officers do, if not more.
Most officers said that violence in the prisons was hugely exaggerated in their training. What was presented in training was so bad that it caused some recruits to withdraw from the program. A 1995 survey shows that ninety-one percent of the prisons surveyed had no violence in an entire year.
Men are much more likely than women to serve sentences for violent crimes. Men also tend to have a longer criminal history than women. Something else very interesting is that men tend to escape from custody a lot more than women.
A big problem with the training is that corrections officers continuously say that the training is pretty much based solely on male inmates in prisons. This means officers are not being trained correctly and that training programs need to change.
Another very interesting thing brought out in Britton’s study is that male and female corrections officers alike preferred to work in male prisons. They said this was because women tend to be much more emotional than the men do. Additionally, women’s complaints were viewed as being petty some of the time while men’s complaints were usually legitimate.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Lee’s Blog 17
The best way for me to start out this blog is to say wow! Watching this documentary from the North Carolina Women’s Prison was very interesting. Our readings in class thus far could never have prepared me for what I saw in the film.
I feel the warden really had things together. She also did her best to make sure her entire staff at the prison had things together as well. Her staff included both male and female officers. There are more than 1,100 inmates at this facility and, from what I saw in the film, they are all properly handled. While I’m sure it is probably this way in every women’s prison, I was impressed to see that male officers were required to have female officers with them when going into certain areas so that no accusations could be made against them. The corrections officers really seemed to exercise caution when handling the inmates. When they had to be, they were assertive. None of the officers exhibited aggressive behavior when not needed. There were some instances where the guards actually came across as being sensitive and genuinely caring about the inmates’ lives. One such situation was the closing of the movie when the one inmate was released and the guard drove her to the bus stop. The guard did not act like she was doing this just because she had to. She acted like she was pleased to do it. She even wished the released inmate good luck.
Inmates at this facility had been convicted of crimes such as drug possession and/or dealing, fraud, murder, burglary, and assorted other crimes. It was very interesting to me to see that every inmate interviewed in this film made no bones about what they had done. No one tried to say they didn’t do it.
Through my years of life, I have heard it said that people could be heterosexual going into prison and coming out of prison, but they might be homosexual while in prison. This seemed to be the case in this documentary. One lesbian couple in particular were the prison loan sharks. They had also become lovers. One member of this couple had been married to a male before coming to prison.
While we did not really see it, there had to have been corrections officers that did have inappropriate liaisons with inmates because there was talk of inmates that were able to obtain drugs, cigarettes, and the like from officers. I am sure this is the situation in any prison, whether male or female, in the country.
One thing that could be interpreted in opposite ways was the cosmetology school on the grounds. While it was an excellent trades program for the prisoners, I personally felt the guards were almost too laid back while in there having their hair done. The one guard said on camera that she was very comfortable with having that particular inmate do her hair. Other jobs at which the prisoners could work to earn money and also a trade included answering phones for the North Carolina Tourism Bureau and also making dentures. I found it really neat to hear the one inmate helping the person on the phone plan their vacation. It put me in mind of how one can call the Department of Motor Vehicles here in Arizona and will, most likely, be speaking with an inmate at one of the state’s prisons. It gives the inmates a bit of contact with the outside world and, again, helps them learn a trade. An inmate I found to be really interesting was the one in the denture manufacturing program. She said she had tried other trades programs in the prison and, shall we say, found them to be ho-hum, tried the dentures program and really liked it. She really sounded like she knew what she wanted to do the rest of her life after release from prison.
So often we see inmates, whether male or female, depicted as rough and hard. I cannot say that I really saw more than maybe one inmate in this film that came across that way. It was really hard for me to tell that she was really a woman. She was a lesbian and really looked like she would take the male role in a lesbian relationship. She also looked very big and very tough. An inmate that really came across as remorseful for what she did was the forty-six year old woman who was a former corrections officer herself. She had killed her husband of twenty-two years and was incarcerated for the rest of her life without the possibility of parole. She commented about how she wished so many times that she could go back and undo what she had done. This documentary really proved that not all prisoners are no good so and so’s. Some prisoners do realize they made a mistake and are sorry for it.
Both Britton and the documentary show that caution must be exercised at all times. If caution is not exercised, then there can be serious consequences such as injury or death.
The best way for me to start out this blog is to say wow! Watching this documentary from the North Carolina Women’s Prison was very interesting. Our readings in class thus far could never have prepared me for what I saw in the film.
I feel the warden really had things together. She also did her best to make sure her entire staff at the prison had things together as well. Her staff included both male and female officers. There are more than 1,100 inmates at this facility and, from what I saw in the film, they are all properly handled. While I’m sure it is probably this way in every women’s prison, I was impressed to see that male officers were required to have female officers with them when going into certain areas so that no accusations could be made against them. The corrections officers really seemed to exercise caution when handling the inmates. When they had to be, they were assertive. None of the officers exhibited aggressive behavior when not needed. There were some instances where the guards actually came across as being sensitive and genuinely caring about the inmates’ lives. One such situation was the closing of the movie when the one inmate was released and the guard drove her to the bus stop. The guard did not act like she was doing this just because she had to. She acted like she was pleased to do it. She even wished the released inmate good luck.
Inmates at this facility had been convicted of crimes such as drug possession and/or dealing, fraud, murder, burglary, and assorted other crimes. It was very interesting to me to see that every inmate interviewed in this film made no bones about what they had done. No one tried to say they didn’t do it.
Through my years of life, I have heard it said that people could be heterosexual going into prison and coming out of prison, but they might be homosexual while in prison. This seemed to be the case in this documentary. One lesbian couple in particular were the prison loan sharks. They had also become lovers. One member of this couple had been married to a male before coming to prison.
While we did not really see it, there had to have been corrections officers that did have inappropriate liaisons with inmates because there was talk of inmates that were able to obtain drugs, cigarettes, and the like from officers. I am sure this is the situation in any prison, whether male or female, in the country.
One thing that could be interpreted in opposite ways was the cosmetology school on the grounds. While it was an excellent trades program for the prisoners, I personally felt the guards were almost too laid back while in there having their hair done. The one guard said on camera that she was very comfortable with having that particular inmate do her hair. Other jobs at which the prisoners could work to earn money and also a trade included answering phones for the North Carolina Tourism Bureau and also making dentures. I found it really neat to hear the one inmate helping the person on the phone plan their vacation. It put me in mind of how one can call the Department of Motor Vehicles here in Arizona and will, most likely, be speaking with an inmate at one of the state’s prisons. It gives the inmates a bit of contact with the outside world and, again, helps them learn a trade. An inmate I found to be really interesting was the one in the denture manufacturing program. She said she had tried other trades programs in the prison and, shall we say, found them to be ho-hum, tried the dentures program and really liked it. She really sounded like she knew what she wanted to do the rest of her life after release from prison.
So often we see inmates, whether male or female, depicted as rough and hard. I cannot say that I really saw more than maybe one inmate in this film that came across that way. It was really hard for me to tell that she was really a woman. She was a lesbian and really looked like she would take the male role in a lesbian relationship. She also looked very big and very tough. An inmate that really came across as remorseful for what she did was the forty-six year old woman who was a former corrections officer herself. She had killed her husband of twenty-two years and was incarcerated for the rest of her life without the possibility of parole. She commented about how she wished so many times that she could go back and undo what she had done. This documentary really proved that not all prisoners are no good so and so’s. Some prisoners do realize they made a mistake and are sorry for it.
Both Britton and the documentary show that caution must be exercised at all times. If caution is not exercised, then there can be serious consequences such as injury or death.
Lee’s Blog 16
Amazingly, previous law enforcement experience is not a requirement to become a corrections officer. The requirements are actually quite lenient. You must be at least twenty-one years of age, have no felony convictions, and have a high school diploma. Jobs in a prison are not really attractive to people in today’s society. It seems like many people that end up in prison work never planned on it. They just sort of “drifted” into it. Some people wanted to be police officers but, when they could not do that, chose to be corrections officers.
Corrections officers start out at about $ 23,000 per year if they have no experience. This is actually below the national poverty level. However, if you do not have any education after high school, this tends to be the pay level you will find a job in. One good thing about being a corrections officer is that there is usually a great deal of room for advancement. Perhaps because of the low starting pay, the benefits packages tend to be very good for corrections officers. Many females, African-Americans, and Hispanics can be found in these positions. Britton tells us that most of the corrections officers she interviewed did not plan to be in their current position (pg.80). Absolutely none of her interviewees planned while growing up to be in this position. Many of them bounced from job to job before ending up as a corrections officer. An interesting tidbit here is that one percent of children surveyed in a survey said they wanted to be a corrections officer.
Forty-four percent of the men Britton interviewed had some sort of military experience before becoming a corrections officer. Only seven percent of the female interviewees had military experience. No men had clerical experience prior to entering their current position, but thirty-seven percent of the women did.
Amazingly, previous law enforcement experience is not a requirement to become a corrections officer. The requirements are actually quite lenient. You must be at least twenty-one years of age, have no felony convictions, and have a high school diploma. Jobs in a prison are not really attractive to people in today’s society. It seems like many people that end up in prison work never planned on it. They just sort of “drifted” into it. Some people wanted to be police officers but, when they could not do that, chose to be corrections officers.
Corrections officers start out at about $ 23,000 per year if they have no experience. This is actually below the national poverty level. However, if you do not have any education after high school, this tends to be the pay level you will find a job in. One good thing about being a corrections officer is that there is usually a great deal of room for advancement. Perhaps because of the low starting pay, the benefits packages tend to be very good for corrections officers. Many females, African-Americans, and Hispanics can be found in these positions. Britton tells us that most of the corrections officers she interviewed did not plan to be in their current position (pg.80). Absolutely none of her interviewees planned while growing up to be in this position. Many of them bounced from job to job before ending up as a corrections officer. An interesting tidbit here is that one percent of children surveyed in a survey said they wanted to be a corrections officer.
Forty-four percent of the men Britton interviewed had some sort of military experience before becoming a corrections officer. Only seven percent of the female interviewees had military experience. No men had clerical experience prior to entering their current position, but thirty-seven percent of the women did.
Lee’s Blog 15
The first prison in the United States opened in the 1780’s. It took a very short time to open up more prisons. There were fifteen prisons in the United States in 1820.
In the early days of the prison system, women were thought of more as being annoying and men were in prison to be reformed. Women and men were both originally housed in the same prison. The first women’s prison was the Mount Pleasant Prison and it opened in 1839.
In what is known as the second phase of the penal system in the United States, women were often sent to half way houses instead of actually being kept in a prison. It was thought that women were not as violent as men, so they did not actually need to be in a prison, per se. The prison system wanted to rehabilitate the male prisoner into what they thought was the ideal man.
A problem throughout the history of women being incarcerated is that of female inmates being raped and abused. While we would tend to think that those that did this were male guards, I feel confident that other female inmates were also guilty of this act.
Current statistics show that, for every one female inmate, there are twenty-four male inmates. That number is shrinking, though, as more and more females are incarcerated.
One thing very prevalent is the gender perception and segregation in prisons. Women are often made to cook, clean, do laundry, do gardening, and other “female” tasks while men tend to work in construction, the railroad, and other supposedly more demanding jobs.
The first prison in Arizona was the Yuma Territorial Prison. It opened in 1875. The Yuma Prison housed both men and women together. As prison reforms continued to be birthed, the Yuma Territorial Prison eventually closed.
Today, men and women have separate prisons. This is the case both in Arizona and across the country
The first prison in the United States opened in the 1780’s. It took a very short time to open up more prisons. There were fifteen prisons in the United States in 1820.
In the early days of the prison system, women were thought of more as being annoying and men were in prison to be reformed. Women and men were both originally housed in the same prison. The first women’s prison was the Mount Pleasant Prison and it opened in 1839.
In what is known as the second phase of the penal system in the United States, women were often sent to half way houses instead of actually being kept in a prison. It was thought that women were not as violent as men, so they did not actually need to be in a prison, per se. The prison system wanted to rehabilitate the male prisoner into what they thought was the ideal man.
A problem throughout the history of women being incarcerated is that of female inmates being raped and abused. While we would tend to think that those that did this were male guards, I feel confident that other female inmates were also guilty of this act.
Current statistics show that, for every one female inmate, there are twenty-four male inmates. That number is shrinking, though, as more and more females are incarcerated.
One thing very prevalent is the gender perception and segregation in prisons. Women are often made to cook, clean, do laundry, do gardening, and other “female” tasks while men tend to work in construction, the railroad, and other supposedly more demanding jobs.
The first prison in Arizona was the Yuma Territorial Prison. It opened in 1875. The Yuma Prison housed both men and women together. As prison reforms continued to be birthed, the Yuma Territorial Prison eventually closed.
Today, men and women have separate prisons. This is the case both in Arizona and across the country
Lee’s Blog 14
Britton starts out by telling us on page three of “At Work in the Iron Cage” that the theory of gendered organizations says that we should not see an organization as a neutral organism that has been infected by the identities of a worker’s gender, sexuality, race, and class. We should, instead, see these as places where “these attributes are present in pre-existing assumptions and constructed through ongoing practice.” While Britton uses a number of sources, her main venue are interviews with seventy-two corrections officers. These officers work in two male prisons and three female prisons. Structural, agency, and culture are all linked together in organizational gendering because, as Britton tells us, there are various cultural ideologies and cultural ideas that affect job choice, employer preferences, organizational practices that have an influence. For example, my mother used to work in a daycare center. If she had gone in there to apply for a job at the same time a man had, she most likely would have gotten the job because she is a woman. This could be because the employer would assume she had past experience in taking care of children as a mother.
Britton also tells us that the public sector and the private sector definitely have a division when it comes to work. Culture defines what our beliefs are about gender. These beliefs include specific things that men do and that women do. This is what Britton refers to as “organizations gendered at the level of structure.” Often, a man can leave work for the day and he is done for the night. However, a woman often leaves work and goes home to work many more hours as a wife and mother. She could very easily be working harder at home than she does at work.
Britton starts out by telling us on page three of “At Work in the Iron Cage” that the theory of gendered organizations says that we should not see an organization as a neutral organism that has been infected by the identities of a worker’s gender, sexuality, race, and class. We should, instead, see these as places where “these attributes are present in pre-existing assumptions and constructed through ongoing practice.” While Britton uses a number of sources, her main venue are interviews with seventy-two corrections officers. These officers work in two male prisons and three female prisons. Structural, agency, and culture are all linked together in organizational gendering because, as Britton tells us, there are various cultural ideologies and cultural ideas that affect job choice, employer preferences, organizational practices that have an influence. For example, my mother used to work in a daycare center. If she had gone in there to apply for a job at the same time a man had, she most likely would have gotten the job because she is a woman. This could be because the employer would assume she had past experience in taking care of children as a mother.
Britton also tells us that the public sector and the private sector definitely have a division when it comes to work. Culture defines what our beliefs are about gender. These beliefs include specific things that men do and that women do. This is what Britton refers to as “organizations gendered at the level of structure.” Often, a man can leave work for the day and he is done for the night. However, a woman often leaves work and goes home to work many more hours as a wife and mother. She could very easily be working harder at home than she does at work.
Lee’s Blog 13
According to Britton, a corrections office is a big man that is very stern. He also portrays the image of having a great deal of power. The portrayal in the media conjures up the idea of a Rambo-type person in a corrections officer uniform. From my personal experiences, I would say nothing could be farther from the truth. I know two men who are corrections officers in the Arizona Department of Corrections. The one man is tall, buff, and bald headed. He does portray the image of power, though he is a sweetheart of a guy. He has said in past conversations that they were taught that corrections officers, no matter how nice they really are, must convey an image of power to the inmates. They were taught that, if an inmate detects the least little bit of non-control on the part of the officer, there will often be trouble. This man has worked out with weights a lot in his life to look stronger to the inmates. He also told us that female corrections officers in a male prison that is more than minimum security tend to be devoured by the inmates because they know they are bigger than the officer.
The other man I knew years ago was, at that time, a corrections officer on Death Row at the Florence prison. He was the total opposite of the man I just described. This man was very much over weight. He probably could not run very fast if he needed to. It did not seem to matter to him, though, because he said the prisoners on Death Row were usually so secured that they could not do anything. His main job when an execution occurred was to clean out the death chamber afterwards.
I have watched television shows and movies in the past that had female police officers and corrections officers in them. The women often seemed to be depicted either as sex objects or as women that really looked more like men. I don’t believe either of these depictions is valid for the most part. My thoughts on female corrections officers are that they do have to be strong. I would guess that, if they have long hair, it probably has to be up in a bun so that inmates cannot grab their hair as easily. One thing I have noticed when I have seen Sheriff Joe’s female officers on television is that their uniforms usually tend to be almost skin tight. I would think this would lead to unwanted, unnecessary heckling from the inmates. As concerns whether male correction officers can do the job better than a female officer, I don’t believe so.
According to Britton, a corrections office is a big man that is very stern. He also portrays the image of having a great deal of power. The portrayal in the media conjures up the idea of a Rambo-type person in a corrections officer uniform. From my personal experiences, I would say nothing could be farther from the truth. I know two men who are corrections officers in the Arizona Department of Corrections. The one man is tall, buff, and bald headed. He does portray the image of power, though he is a sweetheart of a guy. He has said in past conversations that they were taught that corrections officers, no matter how nice they really are, must convey an image of power to the inmates. They were taught that, if an inmate detects the least little bit of non-control on the part of the officer, there will often be trouble. This man has worked out with weights a lot in his life to look stronger to the inmates. He also told us that female corrections officers in a male prison that is more than minimum security tend to be devoured by the inmates because they know they are bigger than the officer.
The other man I knew years ago was, at that time, a corrections officer on Death Row at the Florence prison. He was the total opposite of the man I just described. This man was very much over weight. He probably could not run very fast if he needed to. It did not seem to matter to him, though, because he said the prisoners on Death Row were usually so secured that they could not do anything. His main job when an execution occurred was to clean out the death chamber afterwards.
I have watched television shows and movies in the past that had female police officers and corrections officers in them. The women often seemed to be depicted either as sex objects or as women that really looked more like men. I don’t believe either of these depictions is valid for the most part. My thoughts on female corrections officers are that they do have to be strong. I would guess that, if they have long hair, it probably has to be up in a bun so that inmates cannot grab their hair as easily. One thing I have noticed when I have seen Sheriff Joe’s female officers on television is that their uniforms usually tend to be almost skin tight. I would think this would lead to unwanted, unnecessary heckling from the inmates. As concerns whether male correction officers can do the job better than a female officer, I don’t believe so.
Lee’s Blog 12
Occupational segregation exists for several reasons. One reason is that, no matter how hard we try to make the genders equal and allow both men and women to work in the same jobs totally across the board, I don’t think it will ever happen. That is not to say that it could not happen. I just don’t believe it will. That is very sad. If a woman wants to enter a male dominated occupation, or vice versa, they should have that opportunity. It is extremely encouraging to see how many occupations both men and women do work in side by side today. If one were to look back, say thirty years ago, you would never see a woman riding a fire truck as a firefighter. You would never have seen a man working as a secretary. Today, you see both of these occurring. I, in fact, am a male secretary and love this line of work. Consider the day when you would not have seen a female attorney. Now there are numerous female attorneys.
Occupational segregation, while it seems to have been around since the beginning of time, can be cyclical. There was a time when clerical workers were all male. Then it cycled around to where most clerical workers were women. Now the cycle has begun to swing around again to where men are entering clerical work more and more.
Social and institutional factors contribute to this problem in several ways. Even before a baby is born, we get everything pink for them if they are a girl and everything blue for them if they are a boy. This carries on after birth, thereby reinforcing the gender segregation.
According to the YWCA’s article “Increasing Women’s Incomes” Non-Traditional Training and Employment Fact Sheet,” occupational segregation plays a huge role in the number of women that live below the poverty level[i]. This same report states that, in 2002, women earned only 77 cents of every dollar a man earned. This is preposterous! Even worse is the fact that African American women earned less than that and Latinas earned even less than African Americans.
Women tend to earn more when working in a male dominated occupation than if they were working in a female dominated occupation. However, as we have already stated, they do not make as much as men do in these same occupations.
If men lose by women entering their male dominated occupations, it would only be in that there may not be as many positions to go around. It is obvious from the figures cited above from the YWCA article that men do not lose wages. What needs to happen is women’s wages need to increase to match the men’s wages. I would throw out a “monkey wrench” here from my personal experience. As I already said, I am a male working in the clerical field. When a male enters a
female dominated occupation, they do not earn as much as the female, at least I didn’t.
[i] www.ywca.org, “Increasing Women’s Incomes: Non-Traditional Training and Employment Fact Sheet” in Eliminating Racism, empowering Women.
Occupational segregation exists for several reasons. One reason is that, no matter how hard we try to make the genders equal and allow both men and women to work in the same jobs totally across the board, I don’t think it will ever happen. That is not to say that it could not happen. I just don’t believe it will. That is very sad. If a woman wants to enter a male dominated occupation, or vice versa, they should have that opportunity. It is extremely encouraging to see how many occupations both men and women do work in side by side today. If one were to look back, say thirty years ago, you would never see a woman riding a fire truck as a firefighter. You would never have seen a man working as a secretary. Today, you see both of these occurring. I, in fact, am a male secretary and love this line of work. Consider the day when you would not have seen a female attorney. Now there are numerous female attorneys.
Occupational segregation, while it seems to have been around since the beginning of time, can be cyclical. There was a time when clerical workers were all male. Then it cycled around to where most clerical workers were women. Now the cycle has begun to swing around again to where men are entering clerical work more and more.
Social and institutional factors contribute to this problem in several ways. Even before a baby is born, we get everything pink for them if they are a girl and everything blue for them if they are a boy. This carries on after birth, thereby reinforcing the gender segregation.
According to the YWCA’s article “Increasing Women’s Incomes” Non-Traditional Training and Employment Fact Sheet,” occupational segregation plays a huge role in the number of women that live below the poverty level[i]. This same report states that, in 2002, women earned only 77 cents of every dollar a man earned. This is preposterous! Even worse is the fact that African American women earned less than that and Latinas earned even less than African Americans.
Women tend to earn more when working in a male dominated occupation than if they were working in a female dominated occupation. However, as we have already stated, they do not make as much as men do in these same occupations.
If men lose by women entering their male dominated occupations, it would only be in that there may not be as many positions to go around. It is obvious from the figures cited above from the YWCA article that men do not lose wages. What needs to happen is women’s wages need to increase to match the men’s wages. I would throw out a “monkey wrench” here from my personal experience. As I already said, I am a male working in the clerical field. When a male enters a
female dominated occupation, they do not earn as much as the female, at least I didn’t.
[i] www.ywca.org, “Increasing Women’s Incomes: Non-Traditional Training and Employment Fact Sheet” in Eliminating Racism, empowering Women.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Is It Better to Work or Stay on Welfare?
I came across a very interesting article in my search for something to write about for this blog. It is a story by David R. Jones. It appeared in the Gotham Gazette on August 10, 2006. The title is Single Mothers: Working, But Still Poor (http://www.gothamgazette.com/print/1931). In this article, Jones examines the plight of single working women who receive public assistance of some sort and receive pay raises at their jobs.
I was astonished to learn that, in 2005, the unemployment rate for single mothers in New York City was 41.3 percent. The median wage these women received was $ 11.25 per hour.
Jones tells us of Barbara Brooks, who was a single working mother. Brooks was making $ 8.25 per hour at her job and got a raise to $ 11.00 per hour. We would all think that sounded absolutely wonderful! However, this amounted to a monthly increase of $450. This increase in wages caused her to lose $ 600 per month in public assistance benefits. As Brooks herself puts it, she was “hustling backwards.”
Jones cited some recent research that showed the following about single mothers in New York City:
Approximately 80 percent of them had no employer-paid health insurance for themselves or their children.
Over one third of these mothers had to forego needed medical attention in the previous year because they could not afford it.
Fifty-three percent did not have any paid sick leave.
Sixty-one percent did not have any paid vacation.
They lost their access to public assistance, or at least a large part of it, as they obtained employment.
One thing very interesting is that this article states that many of the employed single mothers in New York City actually work for the city.
Measures being taken at the time of this article included the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which has since been implemented. The long term goal of EITC is to give much needed monies back to the working poor in the hope of raising them to where they are actually gaining ground instead of losing.
I was astonished to learn that, in 2005, the unemployment rate for single mothers in New York City was 41.3 percent. The median wage these women received was $ 11.25 per hour.
Jones tells us of Barbara Brooks, who was a single working mother. Brooks was making $ 8.25 per hour at her job and got a raise to $ 11.00 per hour. We would all think that sounded absolutely wonderful! However, this amounted to a monthly increase of $450. This increase in wages caused her to lose $ 600 per month in public assistance benefits. As Brooks herself puts it, she was “hustling backwards.”
Jones cited some recent research that showed the following about single mothers in New York City:
Approximately 80 percent of them had no employer-paid health insurance for themselves or their children.
Over one third of these mothers had to forego needed medical attention in the previous year because they could not afford it.
Fifty-three percent did not have any paid sick leave.
Sixty-one percent did not have any paid vacation.
They lost their access to public assistance, or at least a large part of it, as they obtained employment.
One thing very interesting is that this article states that many of the employed single mothers in New York City actually work for the city.
Measures being taken at the time of this article included the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which has since been implemented. The long term goal of EITC is to give much needed monies back to the working poor in the hope of raising them to where they are actually gaining ground instead of losing.
America's Poor Children
In looking at the data in the article from the National Center for Children in Poverty (http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_684.html), I saw some items that were very disheartening. Something that was not actually said in this report, or in anything we have discussed thus far in class, is that racism is unfortunately very much alive and very well in the United States. The numbers are so lopsided toward non-Whites that it is disgusting! While only ten percent of white children live in poverty, this article states that thirty-five percent of black children live in poverty. Asian, Latino, and Native American children fall in between those two figures. In my home state of Ohio, a full forty-three percent of black children live in poverty.
This report also tells us that close to twenty percent of poor children have no health insurance. I am confident that many of these children are the children of working poor women who work in a job that either does not offer health insurance or they do not earn enough to pay for the health insurance.
I so often hear in my daily life, and have read in this report, that regular increases to the minimum wage are necessary to get people out of poverty. While I agree with this, I would put forward another thought. If the minimum wage is increased, then the employers will increase the cost of whatever they might be producing. Thus, we have a vicious circle. What needs to be done is the minimum wage increased while, at the same time, caps are put on how much profit companies can make. We are studying about poor working women and poverty. How many CEO’s live at or below the poverty level? How many of our state and national legislators live at or below the poverty level? Just increasing the minimum wage will NOT solve the problem!
Since this article was written in December, 2006, I am sure the current numbers of the categories mentioned in this article are much higher than they were back then. This was before the bottom fell out of the economy. Perhaps something like the old WPA program of the 1930’s would be a good thing to bring back.
This report also tells us that close to twenty percent of poor children have no health insurance. I am confident that many of these children are the children of working poor women who work in a job that either does not offer health insurance or they do not earn enough to pay for the health insurance.
I so often hear in my daily life, and have read in this report, that regular increases to the minimum wage are necessary to get people out of poverty. While I agree with this, I would put forward another thought. If the minimum wage is increased, then the employers will increase the cost of whatever they might be producing. Thus, we have a vicious circle. What needs to be done is the minimum wage increased while, at the same time, caps are put on how much profit companies can make. We are studying about poor working women and poverty. How many CEO’s live at or below the poverty level? How many of our state and national legislators live at or below the poverty level? Just increasing the minimum wage will NOT solve the problem!
Since this article was written in December, 2006, I am sure the current numbers of the categories mentioned in this article are much higher than they were back then. This was before the bottom fell out of the economy. Perhaps something like the old WPA program of the 1930’s would be a good thing to bring back.
Urban Poverty
There are so many things that contribute to urban poverty. Those of us that do not live in poverty would most likely look at the situations and say that these people could help themselves. However, nothing could be farther from the truth in many cases.
We already studied Julia, from the New York City area. She was finally successful in bettering conditions for her family, but it was a very long, very hard struggle. It seemed that many of her problems were caused by government and their lack of speed.
A big concern for poor working mothers is often crime in their neighborhood. Because they have very little money, they are forced to live in neighborhoods that are not nice at all. A term for these neighborhoods is “Outcast Ghetto.” (Chaudry Powerpoint “Putting Children First”) These neighborhoods often have high crime rates, drug use, and gang violence. Mothers are concerned that their daughters may become pregnant at a young age. They are also concerned that their sons may impregnate girls at a young age.
As concerns drug use, it is probably rather easy for these poor working mothers to become drug addicts even though they may think they are going the opposite direction. Here is the scenario: A mother is working two or three jobs at minimum wage to support her family. She just does not have the energy to do it, so someone offers her something just to give her a pick me up so she can continue her many jobs in addition to taking care of her family. As her system gets more and more used to the drug or drugs, she needs more and more to give her the energy she needs. Next thing you know, she is addicted without meaning to become that way. Along these same lines, a mother might “need” her drugs so bad that she would then enter into illegal ways of getting the money such as drug selling and prostitution. I would tend to see this as a major problem. It is also a very sad one because the mother is only trying to help her family, and yet she ends up hurting them and herself.
We already studied Julia, from the New York City area. She was finally successful in bettering conditions for her family, but it was a very long, very hard struggle. It seemed that many of her problems were caused by government and their lack of speed.
A big concern for poor working mothers is often crime in their neighborhood. Because they have very little money, they are forced to live in neighborhoods that are not nice at all. A term for these neighborhoods is “Outcast Ghetto.” (Chaudry Powerpoint “Putting Children First”) These neighborhoods often have high crime rates, drug use, and gang violence. Mothers are concerned that their daughters may become pregnant at a young age. They are also concerned that their sons may impregnate girls at a young age.
As concerns drug use, it is probably rather easy for these poor working mothers to become drug addicts even though they may think they are going the opposite direction. Here is the scenario: A mother is working two or three jobs at minimum wage to support her family. She just does not have the energy to do it, so someone offers her something just to give her a pick me up so she can continue her many jobs in addition to taking care of her family. As her system gets more and more used to the drug or drugs, she needs more and more to give her the energy she needs. Next thing you know, she is addicted without meaning to become that way. Along these same lines, a mother might “need” her drugs so bad that she would then enter into illegal ways of getting the money such as drug selling and prostitution. I would tend to see this as a major problem. It is also a very sad one because the mother is only trying to help her family, and yet she ends up hurting them and herself.
The Instability of Child Care
Jacqueline and Julia encountered several factors that definitely contribute to the instability of child care. First of all, Julia had already been receiving public assistance for nearly a year and a half at the time Jacqueline was born. This meant she was already behind the curve of what society would probably want to call normalcy because her income was low. One thing to Julia’s credit is that she wanted to start college right after Jacqueline was born. This did, at least, show that she was cognizant of her situation and wanted to better things for her and her family.
The first dilemma Julia encountered was that Jacqueline’s father was watching her and her two older sisters while Julia was at college. Then he and Julia broke up at the end of the semester. One of Julia’s sisters then took over the care of her sister’s children. She took care of the children almost full time for three months. Because money was so desperately needed, Julia and her sister started working at a fast food restaurant. They tried to get alternating shifts so one of them could always be at home to care for the children. When Julia’s sister, Izzy, got another job, she was gone.
For a while, Julia wasn’t able to secure child care. She finally got into a program that her city said was mandatory for women on welfare. This program also provided child care for her children. However, because the city was not paying on time, Julia lost that arrangement because she could not afford to pay the care giver and then wait for her reimbursement from the city.
Finally, Julia found Sonia through a network provided by ACD. Things ended up working out really well with Sonia.
Many of Julia’s problems were compounded by the fact that the government agencies could not get their act together, especially near the end of the Julia’s story. They closed her public assistance file, but also cut off other things as a result. It still made it very hard for Julia, but she was now headed in the right direction because she had a new job that paid much better.
The first dilemma Julia encountered was that Jacqueline’s father was watching her and her two older sisters while Julia was at college. Then he and Julia broke up at the end of the semester. One of Julia’s sisters then took over the care of her sister’s children. She took care of the children almost full time for three months. Because money was so desperately needed, Julia and her sister started working at a fast food restaurant. They tried to get alternating shifts so one of them could always be at home to care for the children. When Julia’s sister, Izzy, got another job, she was gone.
For a while, Julia wasn’t able to secure child care. She finally got into a program that her city said was mandatory for women on welfare. This program also provided child care for her children. However, because the city was not paying on time, Julia lost that arrangement because she could not afford to pay the care giver and then wait for her reimbursement from the city.
Finally, Julia found Sonia through a network provided by ACD. Things ended up working out really well with Sonia.
Many of Julia’s problems were compounded by the fact that the government agencies could not get their act together, especially near the end of the Julia’s story. They closed her public assistance file, but also cut off other things as a result. It still made it very hard for Julia, but she was now headed in the right direction because she had a new job that paid much better.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Blog # 6 - Child Care Dilemmas
The range of childcare that low income mothers use is very wide. We saw in one of the videos where mothers were allowed to bring their infants to work with them. We read in the book of Brittany, who needed to find childcare for her infant daughter Bethany. She used a male family member and paid him $95 per week. He came to her home and stayed there with Bethany. He thought this was good pay because he didn’t know what people paid for this type of care in a childcare facility. He started out doing well at first. But then he started showing up late, slacking off, and not caring for her the way he should (Chaudry, ppg 29-30). So she had to stop using him. Then, since her sister was not working at the time, she started using her. This also did not last long. Brittany needed to travel long distances to training for her new job, which meant she had to leave her daughter with a sitter for longer periods of time. This naturally meant more cost for the services provided. The longest period of consistent child care Brittany had for Bethany with one provider was almost three years.
A mother’s idea of “perfect” childcare is where the child gets the attention he or she needs, is treated fairly, and is not abused. Additionally, the child is in a happy atmosphere that is up or above the codes set by the government regarding childcare centers. I noticed in the arc report that, in the State of Alabama, there are rules in place regulating the proper operation of childcare facilities. However, at the same time, this same state has exemptions or loopholes that facilities can use to get past these rules and regulations. That means that parents using these facilities run the risk of getting substandard care of their children.
A mother’s idea of “perfect” childcare is where the child gets the attention he or she needs, is treated fairly, and is not abused. Additionally, the child is in a happy atmosphere that is up or above the codes set by the government regarding childcare centers. I noticed in the arc report that, in the State of Alabama, there are rules in place regulating the proper operation of childcare facilities. However, at the same time, this same state has exemptions or loopholes that facilities can use to get past these rules and regulations. That means that parents using these facilities run the risk of getting substandard care of their children.
Blog # 5 - Is It Immoral?
Chaudry states that even though we are fighting for welfare reform to change the plight of numerous Americans, we still dare to ask people to work for minimum wage and be able to make it through life ok on that minimum wage. We must remember that those who are asking people to do this are not working anywhere near minimum wage themselves.
As Jessica said in her video, the adults must be creative in what they say to their children so the children do not realize what their financial situation really is. To hear her say that she tells her kids they don’t need to be like everyone else and wear Nike or Air Jordan shoes is heart wrenching. Telling them that they don’t need to go to a “fancy” restaurant so she does not have to tell them they cannot afford that restaurant has to be an awful feeling for her. Telling them they are unique is awesome, but having to tell them that to save them from the realization of their poverty is disgusting. No person should ever have to tell anyone that.
This issue is a public one, not a personal one because these people are working their fingers to the bones to try and earn enough of a living to make it through life and support their families. We, as a nation, tell people they must improve their way of life, yet we as employers do not do what needs to be done to improve their lifestyle. As Jessica said, going looking for another job does not help because a new job would take her right back to minimum wage, where she is trying to get out of.
As Roseanne Barr says in the video, the fact that the richest nation in the world has people struggling like this to make ends meet is immoral.
As Jessica said in her video, the adults must be creative in what they say to their children so the children do not realize what their financial situation really is. To hear her say that she tells her kids they don’t need to be like everyone else and wear Nike or Air Jordan shoes is heart wrenching. Telling them that they don’t need to go to a “fancy” restaurant so she does not have to tell them they cannot afford that restaurant has to be an awful feeling for her. Telling them they are unique is awesome, but having to tell them that to save them from the realization of their poverty is disgusting. No person should ever have to tell anyone that.
This issue is a public one, not a personal one because these people are working their fingers to the bones to try and earn enough of a living to make it through life and support their families. We, as a nation, tell people they must improve their way of life, yet we as employers do not do what needs to be done to improve their lifestyle. As Jessica said, going looking for another job does not help because a new job would take her right back to minimum wage, where she is trying to get out of.
As Roseanne Barr says in the video, the fact that the richest nation in the world has people struggling like this to make ends meet is immoral.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Juggling Work and Family
One characteristic of a good family life is the family spending time together. For a husband and wife to experience a flourishing relationship, they need to spend time together. Also very important is each parent being able to spend time with their children. While it is better for both parents to be with the children, this is sometimes impossible. It still remains, though, that each parent must find time to spend with their children.
Balancing a career and family life means that one must learn what they must do to have their career and keep their employer happy while spending quality time with their spouse and children.
Something that enters into this picture is whether or not the employer will or will not allow flexibility in an employee’s work schedule. In the case of couples, it is perhaps harder because both people’s employers must agree to flexibility in their work schedules. This is, perhaps, the biggest obstacle to overcome. Of course, an obstacle that must be overcome is the initial decision as to what schedules the couple will try to execute.
While I don’t really feel it has made work and family issues more complex, changes in traditional gender roles have changed who may do what in the home. As we saw near the beginning of the Juggling Work and Family video, there are numerous cases where the man starts doing duties at home such as cooking. While not shown, men probably also do things around the house such as laundry and cleaning.
Employers can be sensitive to their employees’ needs by allowing time off as needed. This is not always possible for an employer. Sometimes, it takes digging really deep in the thought process to come up with ways to meet job schedules and employees’ needs. A good example of this is Marriott. As we learn in the video, Marriott has struggled with this for over ten years now. One thing they did to try and help out their employees was to build a day care center in Atlanta. Unfortunately, not many Marriott workers took advantage of the center. It was finally determined that they needed to build another day care center closer to several of their hotels. When they did this, they saw an excellent increase in the number of employees using the day care.
One excellent example of how companies can assist their employees is that of Baxter Industries and Joanne. Joanne’s mother was terminally ill with cancer. Baxter allowed Joanne to work four hours per night, usually from 10:00 p.m. to about 2:00 a.m. Her other four hours per day were taken as Family Medical Leave Act time. That helped protect Joanne’s job. In fact, Joanne was doing so well that she received a promotion at work while she was only working.
An excellent example of what employers can do is how the hospitality industry in San Francisco banded together and supplied day care for the workers. Workers use the facility and are able to work their schedules and not lose their jobs. Along these same lines, if an employer or group of employers is unable to have their own day care center, they can provide vouchers to employees to help pay for the needed day care.
Family members can make balancing priorities easier by volunteering to help with the family, whether it is by taking care of the children, cooking, or cleaning. Co-workers can help out in the same way. They can also support the employees by working shared schedules, if permitted by the employer. Neighbors may find it easier to help workers out the same way family members can because they are right there by the employee’s home. Another good way neighbors can help out is by allowing the worker’s children to be home “alone” if they want and the neighbors can still keep an eye on them.
Compared with how things were for employees thirty to forty years ago, many employers are now much more cooperative and much more concerned with how an employee balances their life between home and work. They are now realizing that an employee will be much more productive if a balance is achieved. I believe this idea has more to do with employers striving for a balance than many other things. Employers are realizing that productivity will increase if they work with their employees in this manner.
Balancing a career and family life means that one must learn what they must do to have their career and keep their employer happy while spending quality time with their spouse and children.
Something that enters into this picture is whether or not the employer will or will not allow flexibility in an employee’s work schedule. In the case of couples, it is perhaps harder because both people’s employers must agree to flexibility in their work schedules. This is, perhaps, the biggest obstacle to overcome. Of course, an obstacle that must be overcome is the initial decision as to what schedules the couple will try to execute.
While I don’t really feel it has made work and family issues more complex, changes in traditional gender roles have changed who may do what in the home. As we saw near the beginning of the Juggling Work and Family video, there are numerous cases where the man starts doing duties at home such as cooking. While not shown, men probably also do things around the house such as laundry and cleaning.
Employers can be sensitive to their employees’ needs by allowing time off as needed. This is not always possible for an employer. Sometimes, it takes digging really deep in the thought process to come up with ways to meet job schedules and employees’ needs. A good example of this is Marriott. As we learn in the video, Marriott has struggled with this for over ten years now. One thing they did to try and help out their employees was to build a day care center in Atlanta. Unfortunately, not many Marriott workers took advantage of the center. It was finally determined that they needed to build another day care center closer to several of their hotels. When they did this, they saw an excellent increase in the number of employees using the day care.
One excellent example of how companies can assist their employees is that of Baxter Industries and Joanne. Joanne’s mother was terminally ill with cancer. Baxter allowed Joanne to work four hours per night, usually from 10:00 p.m. to about 2:00 a.m. Her other four hours per day were taken as Family Medical Leave Act time. That helped protect Joanne’s job. In fact, Joanne was doing so well that she received a promotion at work while she was only working.
An excellent example of what employers can do is how the hospitality industry in San Francisco banded together and supplied day care for the workers. Workers use the facility and are able to work their schedules and not lose their jobs. Along these same lines, if an employer or group of employers is unable to have their own day care center, they can provide vouchers to employees to help pay for the needed day care.
Family members can make balancing priorities easier by volunteering to help with the family, whether it is by taking care of the children, cooking, or cleaning. Co-workers can help out in the same way. They can also support the employees by working shared schedules, if permitted by the employer. Neighbors may find it easier to help workers out the same way family members can because they are right there by the employee’s home. Another good way neighbors can help out is by allowing the worker’s children to be home “alone” if they want and the neighbors can still keep an eye on them.
Compared with how things were for employees thirty to forty years ago, many employers are now much more cooperative and much more concerned with how an employee balances their life between home and work. They are now realizing that an employee will be much more productive if a balance is achieved. I believe this idea has more to do with employers striving for a balance than many other things. Employers are realizing that productivity will increase if they work with their employees in this manner.
Caregiving
For many years, my wife and I were caregivers to my elderly parents. While I have a sibling, that sibling was not involved in my parents’ care. Being a caregiver, while it did not always seem like it at the time, was a very time consuming job.
This involved a great deal of time away from work. My mother and father were neither one allowed to drive anymore, so I was their chauffeur. Since many doctors didn’t take appointments before 8:00 or 9:00 a.m., or after 4:00 p.m., any doctor’s appointment one of my parents had meant at least two hours away from work for me.
It finally got to the point where we had to place my parents in a nursing home because the other choice was for my wife or me to quite our jobs and stay home with them since the doctor said they needed someone with them 24/7. There was no way we could quit our jobs. While we had dedicated our lives the last several years to caring for my parents, we were the bad guys for putting them in a nursing home. We both felt we did it for their own good. Did we have other alternatives? Our only other alternative was ALTCCS, which is Arizona’s version of Medicaid. It is run through the AHCCCS program. Had we not had sick time and vacation time, I feel confident we would not have been allowed to take as much time off work as we did to care for them.
For these reasons, I could relate extremely well to the issues brought forward in “Juggling Work and Care.” I feel the efforts being made in the UK are absolutely fantastic! This shows that employers in the UK realize that life is not all about work and no family. They realize that people have responsibilities outside of work. I could so very well relate to the gentleman in the UK that was allowed to work from home while caring for his mother. This showed such compassion on the part of his employer.
The lady in the Juggling part one video put it so very well when she said that they have to be able to accommodate the part of the workforce that does care work, whether it mothers or fathers taking care of their children, or someone like me when I was being a caregiver to my parents. Society, in general, needs to learn and take the necessary steps to allow people to work from home more if needed. An excellent example of this was the gentleman in the UK that got his children off to school, then came into work, left early to pick up his children from school, and then worked two to three hours from home in the evening so as to put in his eight hour shift each day. Society also needs to accept the fact that more and more men are staying home fulfilling the role of “Mr. Mom.”
This involved a great deal of time away from work. My mother and father were neither one allowed to drive anymore, so I was their chauffeur. Since many doctors didn’t take appointments before 8:00 or 9:00 a.m., or after 4:00 p.m., any doctor’s appointment one of my parents had meant at least two hours away from work for me.
It finally got to the point where we had to place my parents in a nursing home because the other choice was for my wife or me to quite our jobs and stay home with them since the doctor said they needed someone with them 24/7. There was no way we could quit our jobs. While we had dedicated our lives the last several years to caring for my parents, we were the bad guys for putting them in a nursing home. We both felt we did it for their own good. Did we have other alternatives? Our only other alternative was ALTCCS, which is Arizona’s version of Medicaid. It is run through the AHCCCS program. Had we not had sick time and vacation time, I feel confident we would not have been allowed to take as much time off work as we did to care for them.
For these reasons, I could relate extremely well to the issues brought forward in “Juggling Work and Care.” I feel the efforts being made in the UK are absolutely fantastic! This shows that employers in the UK realize that life is not all about work and no family. They realize that people have responsibilities outside of work. I could so very well relate to the gentleman in the UK that was allowed to work from home while caring for his mother. This showed such compassion on the part of his employer.
The lady in the Juggling part one video put it so very well when she said that they have to be able to accommodate the part of the workforce that does care work, whether it mothers or fathers taking care of their children, or someone like me when I was being a caregiver to my parents. Society, in general, needs to learn and take the necessary steps to allow people to work from home more if needed. An excellent example of this was the gentleman in the UK that got his children off to school, then came into work, left early to pick up his children from school, and then worked two to three hours from home in the evening so as to put in his eight hour shift each day. Society also needs to accept the fact that more and more men are staying home fulfilling the role of “Mr. Mom.”
Sex Segregation
Sex segregation simply means the separation of the genders. It shows men being segregated into one type of existence and women into another type of existence. It can mean what jobs men do as opposed to what jobs women do. It can be in the workplace or the home, either one.
I worked at ASU for twenty-three years before leaving nearly four years ago. When I started working at ASU in 1983, I feel in looking back that sex segregation was very strong, at least in the management and clerical sides of things. I started out not working in the academic affairs side of the campus, but more in student support. At that time, it seemed very much like you saw males strongly dominating management positions, while females dominated the clerical positions.
The only way one seemed to see sex desegregation was if student workers were being employed. I worked in the film inspection room of the now defunct film library of ASU. There, we would hire males and females alike to sit and repair films.
While not working at ASU anymore, I am still on campus a lot because of going to school and also because my wife works on campus. I am really pleased to see far more women in higher level management positions on campus than they used to be. By the same token, I feel I see a lot more males filling positions that were once totally dominated by females. I can definitely attest to how hard breaking the sex segregation walls down can be as I am a male administrative assistant. One would never have thought twenty or thirty years ago of seeing a male doing what I do now.
My own socialization at home was the typical stereotypical upbringing that men did the manual labor and management type positions while women either stayed home and raised the children and took care of the house while men went out and “brought home the bacon.” This is very strongly related to patriarchy in that the father was supposed to be the “head of the household” while the mother submitted to whatever the father said. Though I was brought up to believe this, that is not how it was in my own home. My mother “wore the pants” and earned a lot more money that my father did. The really sad part about this is that, while my mother earned more money throughout her life than my father did, the United States government paid her about fifty percent less per month on social security that it did my father just because he was a male and she was a female.
Sex segregation, as it relates to our current economy and men losing their jobs, does not seem to have had a positive effect on the wages women earn. I really don’t believe it will have any positive effect because I don’t see employers raising women’s wages just because their spouses are out of work. While great strides have been made in sex desegregation, there is still a long, long way to go.
I worked at ASU for twenty-three years before leaving nearly four years ago. When I started working at ASU in 1983, I feel in looking back that sex segregation was very strong, at least in the management and clerical sides of things. I started out not working in the academic affairs side of the campus, but more in student support. At that time, it seemed very much like you saw males strongly dominating management positions, while females dominated the clerical positions.
The only way one seemed to see sex desegregation was if student workers were being employed. I worked in the film inspection room of the now defunct film library of ASU. There, we would hire males and females alike to sit and repair films.
While not working at ASU anymore, I am still on campus a lot because of going to school and also because my wife works on campus. I am really pleased to see far more women in higher level management positions on campus than they used to be. By the same token, I feel I see a lot more males filling positions that were once totally dominated by females. I can definitely attest to how hard breaking the sex segregation walls down can be as I am a male administrative assistant. One would never have thought twenty or thirty years ago of seeing a male doing what I do now.
My own socialization at home was the typical stereotypical upbringing that men did the manual labor and management type positions while women either stayed home and raised the children and took care of the house while men went out and “brought home the bacon.” This is very strongly related to patriarchy in that the father was supposed to be the “head of the household” while the mother submitted to whatever the father said. Though I was brought up to believe this, that is not how it was in my own home. My mother “wore the pants” and earned a lot more money that my father did. The really sad part about this is that, while my mother earned more money throughout her life than my father did, the United States government paid her about fifty percent less per month on social security that it did my father just because he was a male and she was a female.
Sex segregation, as it relates to our current economy and men losing their jobs, does not seem to have had a positive effect on the wages women earn. I really don’t believe it will have any positive effect because I don’t see employers raising women’s wages just because their spouses are out of work. While great strides have been made in sex desegregation, there is still a long, long way to go.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Lee's Blog
Hi! I'm Lee McCracken. I am a Justice Studies senior this year. I haven't decided if I want to graduate in December or stretch it out to May. If I successfully complete nine hours this semester, I would be eligible for graduation. I don't know if I want to do nine or just do six this semester and finish up in spring semester. I work 8 - 5 everyday, along with other committments, so nine hours might end up a bit of a stretch for me.
I am in a group of college students that is growing all the time--those that are not of a "typical" college age. I just turned 52 a couple of weeks ago and am earning my very first bachelor's degree. I honestly never dreamed of getting a college education. I got married in October, 1999 and my wife got a job at ASU after moving out here a couple of months after we married. She told me I was nuts if I didn't take advantage of the staff tuition waiver, so I started school. So, I started school in January, 2001 and here I am.
I worked at ASU for 23 years before leaving in 2005 to join the Maricopa County Community College District. I currently work as an Administrative Secretary in their Foundation.
I love being a justice studies major. I once told my wife that, after looking at the course descriptions for Justice Studies, I would love to just be able to take every course listed because they all sounded so awesome!
I am in a group of college students that is growing all the time--those that are not of a "typical" college age. I just turned 52 a couple of weeks ago and am earning my very first bachelor's degree. I honestly never dreamed of getting a college education. I got married in October, 1999 and my wife got a job at ASU after moving out here a couple of months after we married. She told me I was nuts if I didn't take advantage of the staff tuition waiver, so I started school. So, I started school in January, 2001 and here I am.
I worked at ASU for 23 years before leaving in 2005 to join the Maricopa County Community College District. I currently work as an Administrative Secretary in their Foundation.
I love being a justice studies major. I once told my wife that, after looking at the course descriptions for Justice Studies, I would love to just be able to take every course listed because they all sounded so awesome!
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