David J. Maume

Glass Ceilings and Glass Escalators Occupational Segregation and Race and Sex Differences in Managerial Promotions

Many have researched the effect of occupational segregation on race and gender gaps in pay, but few have examined segregations impact on promotions. This article uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the effect of race and gender composition in the origin occupation on movement to a managerial position. Findings show that for men, percentage of women in the origin occupation positively affected the chances of men moving to a supervisory position and that Blacks were less likely than Whites to be promoted. For women, percentage of women and percentage of Blacks in the origin occupation significantly decreased chances of women attaining a management position. Subsequent analyses showed that Black men, Black women, and White women waited longer than did White men for the managerial promotions they received. The findings suggest the impact of a “glass escalator” for White men, a “glass ceiling” for others, and contradict the notion of a “declining significance of race.”

Is the Glass Ceiling a Unique Form of Inequality? Evidence From a Random-Effects Model of Managerial Attainment

A recent paper by Cotter, Hermsen, Ovadia, and Vanneman explicates four criteria for distinguishing the glass ceiling as a unique form of inequality. First, a glass ceiling exists when artificial barriers impede the advancement of women and minorities, and second, these barriers are more severe at higher occupational levels. Third, the glass ceiling must be investigated with longitudinal data, and fourth, a glass ceiling is manifested in increasing inequality over the life course. This paper extended these criteria by conducting a longitudinal analysis of managerial attainment (satisfying the second and third criteria). The presence of artificial barriers was assessed by estimating the salience of race and gender to the process of managerial attainment. Additional estimations showed that the gap in managerial attainment between White men and other groups grew over the life course. Thus, findings from this study do satisfy the Cotter et al. criteria regarding the existence and uniqueness of the glass ceiling. The paper concludes with a call for additional research.

The Overworked American or the Time Bind? Assessing Competing Explanations for Time Spent in Paid Labor

A number of analysts have examined the issue of whether time in paid labor is a voluntary decision or constrained by the demands of employers. Many contend that Americans are overworked by their employers, especially if they are highly educated, working at the apex of the occupational hierarchy, and placed in large firms. On the other hand, Arlie Hochschild suggests in The Time Bind that long hours reflect an avoidance of hectic family lives in favor of the rewards and recognition found at work. To examine the explanatory power of these arguments, this article uses data from the Survey of Ohios Working Families (SOWF) to predict the scheduling and the length of time spent in paid labor. Little support is found for Hochschilds argument and more support is found for other explanations of the overworked American.

Job segregation and gender differences in work-family spillover among white-collar workers

We test two propositions in this paper: (1) work-family conflict varies with gender composition and hours on the job; and (2) women will experience more tension between work and family responsibilities than will men. Using a sample of white-collar workers, we measured work-family conflict with a composite scale tapping negative job-to-home spillover. Workgroup composition had no effect on mens reported work-family conflict, while work hours was positively associated with work-family conflict. For women, longer work hours and tokenism in the immediate workgroup increased perceptions of work-family conflict, but unexpectedly, the interaction of work hours and tokenism was negatively related to work-family conflict. We explored several possible arguments for this contrary finding.

Gender Differences in Sleep Disruption among Retail Food Workers

As women pursue careers while retaining primary responsibility for family life, discretionary time is an emerging arena of gender inequality in contemporary life. This study examines gender inequality in waking role obligations and the implications for differences in sleep disruption. Drawing on a sample of 583 retail food workers, who regularly worked nights and rotating schedules, we find in our multivariate modeling that women experience significantly more sleep disruption than do men. A decomposition analysis shows that almost one-half of the gender gap in sleep disruption is accounted for by gender differences in health status and various dimensions of work-family context. By implication, the remainder of the gender gap in sleep disruption is attributable to differences in responsibility for work-family obligations. Given the need for more research on how work-family conflict affects health and well-being, further research on sleep patterns is warranted.

Gender Differences in Taking Vacation Time

This article contends that the use of vacation time reveals ones relative weighting of work and family obligations and examines gender differences in taking vacation time. Using data from the National Study of the ChangingWorkforce, this study finds that in the presence of familial and work-related controls, women are less likely than men to have unused vacation time. In gender-specific analyses, mens work schedules, supervisory duties, and concerns about job security significantly reduce the duration of their vacations. Even though familial factors have no impact on womens vacation use, womens concerns about the success of their family lives increase with the number of unused vacation days. These findings suggest the endurance of traditional expressions of work-family priorities. The research and policy implications of these findings are briefly discussed.

Gender Differences in Providing Urgent Childcare among Dual-earner Parents

It may be premature to think that contemporary families are egalitarian because wives are working more and fathers are more involved with children. This research contends that egalitarianism is reflected in gender similarity in missing work to attend to childrens needs. Drawing from two national surveys of dual-earner parents, familial factors (especially children and spouses work hours) exceeded job-related factors in determining womens sole provision of urgent childcare. Although mens egalitarian ideology was positively associated with urgent-childcare provision, men as a whole were less likely than women to adapt their work efforts to familial demands. These findings suggest more persistent traditionalism than progress toward egalitarianism in work-family role performance. The implications of these results for future research were briefly discussed.

Gender, Work-Family Responsibilities, and Sleep

This study adds to a small but growing literature that situates sleep within gendered work— family responsibilities. We conducted interviews with 25 heterosexual dual-earner working-class couples with children, most of whom had one partner (usually the mother) who worked at night. A few men suffered disrupted sleep because of their commitment to being a coparent to their children, but for most their provider status gave them rights to longer and more continuous sleep. By contrast, as they were the primary caregiver during sentient hours, women’s sleep was curtailed and interrupted by responding to the needs of family members at night and at the beginning of each day, and this was true for women who worked nights as well as days. Furthermore, in struggling to meet their daily employment and familial obligations while tired and sleepy, women further stressed their bodies in ways that can cause cumulative sleep debt. This article demonstrates that sleep deficits are another manifestation of gender inequality, with important implications for long-term health and well-being.

Social ties and adolescent sleep disruption.

Teens tend go to bed later, get less sleep, and report more daytime sleepiness. Medical research emphasizes biological determinants of teens’ disrupted sleep (i.e., the timing of puberty and resultant drops in melatonin), rarely or inadequately considering youths’ social ties as a determinant of sleep behaviors. Sociologists recognize how social ties affect health behaviors but have generally neglected sleep, especially among teens. Drawing on a sample of 974 teens from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, this study controls for developmental and social relational factors to predict changes in youths’ sleep patterns between 12 and 15 years of age. In general, social relational factors outperform developmental factors in determining youths’ sleep patterns, particularly pointing to the importance of parental, peer, and school ties in promoting healthy sleep behaviors. The implications of these findings for further research are briefly discussed.

Men's Participation in Child Care and Women's Work Attachment

Who cares for children is an important determinant of womens work effort and their potential earnings. Although research on child care has grown dramatically over the last decade, previous studies have ignored the effects of child-care arrangements on female employment. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation , a 1985 sample of employed mothers of preschool-age children was selected, and determinants of quitting work by 1986 were examined. Women who relied on their husbands for child-care supervision were found to be more likely to quit work than women in the reference category; in addition, this effect was stronger among lowwage women. The need for additional work on the relation between child care and the female labor supply is examined.