Janeen Baxter

THE GLASS CEILING HYPOTHESIS A Comparative Study of the United States, Sweden, and Australia

The general-case glass ceiling hypothesis states that not only is it more difficult for women than for men to be promoted up levels of authority hierarchies within workplaces but also that the obstacles women face relative to men become greater as they move up the hierarchy. Gender-based discrimination in promotions is not simply present across levels of hierarchy but is more intense at higher levels. Empirically, this implies that the relative rates of women being promoted to higher levels compared to men should decline with the level of the hierarchy. This article explores this hypothesis with data from three countries: the United States, Australia, and Sweden. The basic conclusion is that while there is strong evidence for a general gender gap in authority—the odds of women having authority are less than those of men—there is no evidence for systematic glass ceiling effects in the United States and only weak evidence for such effects in the other two countries.

DEPENDENCE AND INDEPENDENCE A Cross-National Analysis of Gender Inequality and Gender Attitudes

The authors argue that womens dependence on men plays a key role in muting challenges to gender inequality, and they explore that argument through an analysis of gender-related attitudes in five countries. Womens dependence at both the societal and the individual levels is associated with less egalitarian gender attitudes; such dependence especially affects womens attitudes, drawing them toward mens less egalitarian views. Societal-level dependence also strengthens the impact of individual-level dependence on egalitarianism. The authors conclude that womens dependence discourages egalitarian gender attitudes, thus suppressing challenges to the gendered status quo and legitimating gender inequality.

Patterns of change and stability in the gender division of household labour in Australia, 1986–1997

Recent research in Australia and overseas has suggested that we are witnessing a convergence of mens and womens time on domestic labour activities. But there is disagreement about whether this is due to women reducing their time on housework or men increasing their time on housework. This article addresses these issues using national survey data collected in Australia in 1986, 1993 and 1997. The results show some changes in the proportional responsibilities of men and women in the home with men reporting a greater share of traditional indoor activities. But overall both men and women are spending less time on housework. In particular, womens time on housework has declined by six hours per week since 1986. Hence, while the gender gap between mens and womens involvement in the home is getting smaller, it is not the result of men increasing their share of the load, but is due to the large decline in womens time spent on domestic labour. There is also evidence of change in the relationship between paid and unpaid work for women. Womens hours of paid labour had a greater impact on their involvement in domestic labour in 1997 compared to a decade earlier. The article concludes that womens increased labour force involvement in combination with changing patterns and styles of consumption is leading to some changes in the gender division of household labour, but not in the direction anticipated by earlier commentators on the domestic division of labour.

To Marry or Not to Marry: Marital Status and the Household Division of Labor.

Data from an Australian national survey (1996 to 1997) are used to examine domestic labor patterns among de facto and married men and women. The results show that women spend more time on housework and do a greater proportion of housework than men. However, the patterns are most traditional among married men and women. Women in de facto relationships spend less time doing housework and do a smaller proportion of indoor activities than married women. Men in de facto relationships do a larger proportion of indoor activities and a lower proportion of outdoor tasks than married men. The data also show that couples who have cohabited prior to marriage have more egalitarian divisions of labor than those who have not cohabited prior to marriage. This article concludes by arguing that the incompleteness of the de facto relationship provides a period of relative freedom in which to negotiate more equal roles.

Who Uses Paid Domestic Labor in Australia? Choice and Constraint in Hiring Household Help

Abstract This paper investigates why some Australian households use paid help with domestic labor while others do not. Consistent with earlier studies, the analysis examines hypotheses relating to resources, objective demand, and gender attitudes. Additionally, this paper examines the impact of attitudes toward using paid domestic labor, an area that has not been investigated previously. The findings suggest that resources and objective demand provide the parameters within which employing household help is made possible or necessary, but beliefs about the appropriateness of this strategy also play a role in determining whether Australian households use paid domestic labor. The paper concludes that understanding whether Australian households pay for domestic help is dependent not just on the level of resources and objective demand but also on whether individuals view paid domestic help as an appropriate strategy for undertaking domestic work.

THE NON-EFFECTS OF CLASS ON THE GENDER DIVISION OF LABOR IN THE HOME: A Comparative Study of Sweden and the United States

This article explores the relationship between class and the gendered domestic division of labor by examining how the contribution by husbands to housework in dual-career families varies across the class system. The article uses data from the United States and Sweden. The findings indicate that location in the class structure is not a powerful or systematic determinant of variations in the division of labor across households.

Marriage Breakdown in Australia: The Social Correlates of Separation and Divorce

Marriage breakdown through separation and divorce is a pervasive feature of Australian society. But little research investigates the social factors associated with marital breakdown in Australia. This study builds on and extends Australian research by using survival analysis models to examine patterns of association among temporal, life-course, attitudinal and economic factors associated with marital breakdown. Using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, we find marital breakdown in Australia is socially patterned in similar ways to other Western countries. But our findings point to several directions for future research into marriage breakdown in Australia, and we identify certain unique features of Australian marriage breakdown that warrant a more detailed investigation, such as the relationship between ethnic origin and the risk of marital breakdown.

Neoliberalism, gender inequality and the Australian labour market

Over the past 25 years neoliberal philosophies have increasingly informed labour market policies in Australia that have led to increasing levels of wage decentralization. The most recent industrial relations changes aim to decentralize wage setting significantly further than has previously been the case. We argue that this is problematic for gender equity as wage decentralization will entrench rather than challenge the undervaluation of feminized work. In this article we provide an overview of key neoliberal industrial relations policy changes pertinent to gender equity and examine the current state of gender equity in the labour market. Results show that womens labour force participation has steadily increased over time but that a number of negative trends exclude women with substantial caring responsibilities from pursuing a career track. The implications of increasing levels of wage deregulation are that gender wage inequality and the potential for discrimination will grow.

Reconfigurations of class and gender

List of tables and figures Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Mark Western and Janeen Baxter 2. Foundations of class analysis: a marxist perspective Erik Olin Wright 3. A conceptual menu for studying the interconnections of class and gender Erik Olin Wright 4. The gendered restructuring of the middle classes Rosemary Crompton 5. Who works? comparing labor market practices Wallace Clement 6. The links between paid and unpaid work: Australia and Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s Mark Western and Janeen Baxter 7. Employment flexibility in the United States: changing and maintaining gender, class, and ethnic work relationships Rachel A. Rosenfeld 8. Gender and access to money: what do trends in earnings and household poverty tell us? Paula England 9. Women and the union democracy - welcome as members but not as leaders? a study of the Scandinavian confederation of labor Gunn Elisabeth Birkelund and Siv Overad Notes References Index.

THE GLASS CEILING HYPOTHESIS A Reply to Critics

There is a range of issues on which we and our critics-Myra Marx Ferree and Bandana Purkayastha, and Dana M. Britton and Christine L. Williams-agree: Women face systematic obstacles to promotions in managerial hierarchies; some of these obstacles take the form of direct discrimination in promotion decisions, whereas others are the result of forms of gender oppression built into institutional structures and social environments; obstacles to managerial promotions are not the only form of disadvantage women face within labor markets-they also face disadvantage with respect to occupational choice, earnings, and prestige-and some of the disadvantages may be more intense at higher levels of the relevant dimension; although it may be difficult to disentangle occupational sex segregation from obstacles to vertical promotions within hierarchies, these are not identical phenomena and both affect the work lives of women. Where we disagree, principally, is on three matters: