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Gendering the Recession

2009 March 5
by Laura Blankenship

An interesting discussion about the way the media has portrayed gender issues that have cropped up as a result of the recession. They discuss relationships, housework and more.

2 Responses
  1. SarahLeia permalink
    March 5, 2009

    I am honestly surprised that, on average, male nurses are paid more than female nurses! That’s a statistic I have definitely never heard before. In this discussion one of the women mentions that one reason this may happen is that an employer will unconsciously make the judgment that a man is the “breadwinner” for his family, so he needs to make more money than a woman does. I can see how this bias could come into play, but it wasn’t the first explanation that came to my mind. My first thought was that an employer may feel the need to offer a male more to be a nurse than they would offer a female to try and lure him into taking a job in a female-dominated field. From there I had two main thoughts. First, why would an employer feel such a need to hire a male? And secondly, is there a similar degree of pay inflation for women who have a job in a male-dominated field (such as computer science)?

  2. March 5, 2009

    Here’s the article with those stats. In male-dominated fields, women get paid less too!

    Sadly, I’ve actually witnessed that “breadwinner” mentality in person. It’s alive and well in 2009.

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