Journal review

Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs Your Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Sex Segregation and Emotional Labor Summary The authors Mary Ellen Guy and Meredith A. Newman present the apparent causes that result in the wage difference among female and male employees of a company. In their journal Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Sex Segregation and Emotional Labor, the authors describe job segregation to be one of the main reasons for the salary disparity. Job segregation allows the differentiation of the various jobs performed by the male and female employees. Due to this segregation, women are given jobs that involve an emotional labor which is a term used to describe the poignant effort that women have to put in their jobs without getting any credit for it as it is assumed to be a part of their personality. Although jobs are segregated so as to differentiate the tasks among men and women, it has been shown that emotional labor applies to both, men as well as women quality or characteristic that applies to both female and males (Guy and Newman 2004, 289). Most of the jobs such as public service jobs which involve handling or dealing with customers or clients often include greeting them politely, responding to their questions, or just interacting with them kindly. The archetypes of public service jobs include receptionists, administrative assistants, secretaries, clerical staff, and other positions that involve dealing with important people. All these jobs require an additional skill than to just doing manual labor and that is emotional labor. Although they involve emotional labor as well, job descriptions often do not explicitly mention emotional labor as part of the job requirements and it is inexplicably understood as being part of the job quality or characteristic that applies to both female and males (Guy and Newman 2004, 289). As the institutional forces keep on exerting pressure on the organizations, they are changing and so job descriptions these days only mention the duties, roles and responsibilities that an employee may be expected to have however natural behavior is now assumed to be an intrinsic characteristic of applicants and therefore relational job advertisements do not mention the emotional labor aspect of any particular job (Guy and Newman 2004, 290). The result is that since the emotional labor is not recognized by organization, hence employees are also not rewarded any money for it as well. The ignorance of the emotional labor aspect of jobs result in the pay inequity among the women and men workers of an organization. Wage disparity among women and men workers is regarded as a form of discrimination and there are laws related to such acts now. According to the authors there is a need to understand each job’s requirements so as to acknowledge the emotional labor involved in it so that it is compensated for in the wage (Guy and Newman 2004, 296). Analysis The main subject of the above journal relates to perhaps the most common workplace issue which relates to gender discrimination at organizations. Most organizations discourage discrimination, support an EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity), and have the HR (Human Resource) department in order to deal with issues concerning discrimination. Laws exist now so that any claim against discrimination if found to be true results in severe consequences. One of the forms of gender discrimination is unequal pay rates for male and female employees. The act of separating jobs and tasks in terms of gender comes under job segregation. Although the jobs performed in the segregated occupations require the same level of skills and competence, emotional labor which is an additional labor that women have to be performed as it is expected as an internal quality possessed by the gender, women are paid a relatively lesser pay as compared to men. Anti-discriminatory laws are followed by organizations however a major part of discrimination that is being overlooked is because of the ignorance of emotional labor and job segregation that are an obstacle to a more anti-discriminatory environment. There is a school of thought present according to whom the jobs performed by men and women cannot be compared as they involve the achievement of a different set of goals. According to them, since women and men perform different tasks, there is no reason to compare both using the same scale. This is an implication of job segregation where the jobs although require similar efforts compensate less to women in terms of emotional labor. Until organizations bring emotional labor as part of their job requirements pay inequity cannot be removed from workplaces. Hence, in order to eliminate this disparity, organizations need to bring other intrinsic efforts like emotional labor into their jobs. Works Cited Guy, Mary Ellen and Newman, Meredith A. “ Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Sex Segregation and Emotional Labor.” Public Administration Review 64, no. 3 (May/June 2004) 289-298.