Editing Gender role (section)

== In the workplace ==
{{Further|Occupational segregation}}
[[File:Land Army girl Vera Howson at the Women's Timber Corps training camp at Culford in Suffolk. TR913.jpg|thumb|A female lumberjack on the [[United Kingdom home front during World War II|home front during World War II]]. The gendered mass-mobilization for military service created many opportunities for women to work in traditionally male jobs.]]

Gender stereotypes can disadvantage women during the hiring process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gorman |first1=Elizabeth H. |title=Gender Stereotypes, Same-Gender Preferences, and Organizational Variation in the Hiring of Women: Evidence from Law Firms |journal=[[American Sociological Review]] |date=August 2005 |volume=70 |issue=4 |doi=10.1177/000312240507000408 |pages=702–728 |s2cid=143766494}}</ref> It is one explanation for the lack of women in key organizational positions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heilman |first1=Madeline E. |title=Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women's Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder |journal=[[Journal of Social Issues]] |date=2001 |volume=57 |issue=4 |doi=10.1111/0022-4537.00234 |pages=657–674 |s2cid=144504496}}</ref> Management and similar leader positions are often perceived to be "masculine" in type, meaning they are assumed to require aggressiveness, competitiveness, strength and independence. These traits do not line up with the perceived traditional female gender role stereotype.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heilman |first1=Madeline E.|last2=Eagly|first2=Alice H. |title=Gender Stereotypes Are Alive, Well, and Busy Producing Workplace Discrimination |journal=Industrial and Organizational Psychology |date=2008 |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=393–398 |doi=10.1111/j.1754-9434.2008.00072.x |s2cid=143990135}}</ref> (This is often referred to as the "lack of fit" model which describes the dynamics of the gender bias.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heilman |first=Madeline E. |year=1983 |title=Sex Bias in Work Settings: The Lack of Fit Model |journal=Research in Organizational Behavior}}</ref>) Therefore, the perception that women do not possess these "masculine" qualities, limits their ability to be hired or promoted into managerial positions.

One's performance at work is also evaluated based on one's gender. If a female and a male worker show the same performance, the implications of that performance vary depending on the person's gender and on who observes the performance; if a man performs exceedingly well he is perceived as driven or goal-oriented and generally seen in a positive light while a woman showing a similar performance is often described using adjectives with negative connotations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=Shelley E.|last2=Fiske|first2=Susan T.|last3=Etcoff|first3=Nancy L.|last4=Ruderman|first4=Audrey J.|title=Categorical and Contextual Bases of Person Memory and Stereotyping|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-personality-and-social-psychology_1978-07_36_7/page/778|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|date=1978|volume=36|issue=7|pages=778|doi=10.1037/0022-3514.36.7.778 }}</ref> Female performance is therefore not evaluated neutrally or unbiased and stereotyped in ways to deem their equivalent levels and quality of work as instead of lesser value.

A study in 2001 found that if a woman does act according to female stereotypes, she is likely to receive backlash for not being competent enough; if she does not act according to the stereotypes connected to her gender and behaves more [[masculine]], it is likely to cause backlash through [[third-party punishment]] or further [[job discrimination]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rudman |first1=Laurie A. |last2=Glick |first2=Peter |date=2001 |title=Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes and Backlash Toward Agentic Women |journal=Journal of Social Issues |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=743–762 |doi=10.1111/0022-4537.00239 |hdl-access=free |hdl=2027.42/146421|s2cid=54219902 }}</ref> This puts women in the workforce in a precarious, "double bind" situation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Joan C. |date=2009 |title=Reconstructive Feminism: Changing the Way We Talk About Gender and Work Thirty Years After the PDA |journal=21 Yale J.L. & Feminism |volume=79 |page=104}}</ref> A proposed step to protect women is the ratification of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]], as it would prohibit gender-based discrimination<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kilgarlin |first1=William Wayne |last2=Tarver |first2=Banks |date=1989 |title=Equal Rights Amendment: Governmental Action and Individual Liberty |journal=Tex. L. Rev. |volume=68}}</ref> regardless of if a woman is acting according to female gender stereotypes, or in defiance of them.

Consequently, that gender stereotype filter leads to a lack of fair evaluation and, in turn, to fewer women occupying higher paying positions. Gender stereotypes contain women at certain, lower levels; getting trapped within the [[glass ceiling]]. While the number of [[women in the workforce]] occupying management positions is slowly increasing,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kalysh|first1=Kateryina|author-link2=Carol Kulik|last2=Kulik|first2=Carol T.|last3=Perera|first3=Sanjeewa|title=Help or hindrance? Work-life practices and women in management|journal=The Leadership Quarterly|date=2016|volume=27|issue=3|page=504|doi=10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.12.009}}</ref> women currently fill only 2.5% of the higher managerial positions in the United States.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal|last1=Sanchez-Huckles|first1=Janis V.|last2=Davis|first2=Donald D.|title=Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-psychologist_2010-04_65_3/page/171|journal=American Psychologist|date=2010|volume=65|issue=3|pages=171–181|doi=10.1037/a0017459|pmid=20350016}}</ref> The fact that most women are being allocated to occupations that pay less, is often cited as a contributor to the existing [[gender pay gap]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blau|first1=Francine D.|last2=Kahn|first2=Lawrence M.|title=Differences in Pay|journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives|date=2000|volume=14|issue=4|pages=75–99|doi=10.1257/jep.14.4.75|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Petersen|first1=Trond|last2=Morgan|first2=Laurie A.|title=Separate and Unequal: Occupation-Establishment Sex Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-journal-of-sociology_1995-09_101_2/page/329|journal=The American Journal of Sociology|date=1995|volume=101|issue=2|pages=329–365|doi=10.1086/230727|s2cid=145707764}}</ref>

In relation to white women, [[women of color]] are disproportionally affected by the negative influence their gender has on their chances in the labor market.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Browne|first1=Irene|last2=Misra|first2=Joya|title=The Intersection of Gender and Race in the Labor Market|journal=Annual Review of Sociology|date=2003|volume=29|issue=1|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.29.010202.100016|pages=487–513}}</ref> In 2005, women held only 14.7% of Fortune 500 board seats with 79% of them being white and 21% being women of color.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> This difference is understood through [[intersectionality]], a term describing the multiple and intersecting oppressions an individual might experience. Activists during [[second-wave feminism]] have also used the term "horizontal oppressions" to describe this phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Doing Feminist Theory: From Modernity to Postmodernity |last=Mann |first=Susan Archer |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2012 |page=172}}</ref> It has also been suggested that women of color in addition to the glass ceiling, face a "concrete wall" or a "sticky floor" to better visualize the barriers.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

[[Liberal feminist]] theory states that due to these systemic factors of oppression and discrimination, women are often deprived of equal work experiences because they are not provided equal opportunities on the basis of legal rights. Liberal feminists further propose that an end needs to be put to discrimination based on gender through legal means, leading to equality and major economic redistributions.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Scientific Reproduction of Gender Inequality: A Discourse Analysis of Research Texts on Women's Entrepreneurship |last=Ahl |first=Helene |publisher=Copenhagen Business School Press |year=2004 |page=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wendell |first=Susan |year=1987 |title=A (Qualified) Defense of Liberal Feminism |doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.1987.tb01066.x |journal=Hypatia |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=65–93 |s2cid=143213609}}</ref>

While activists have tried calling on [[Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964]] to provide an equal hiring and promotional process, that practice has had limited success.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abrams |first1=Kathryn |title=Gender Discrimination and the Transformation of Workplace Norms |journal=[[Vanderbilt Law Review]] |date=1989 |volume=42}}</ref> The pay gap between men and women is slowly closing. Women make approximately 21% less than her male counterpart according to the Department of Labor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dol.gov/wb/media/gender_wage_gap.pdf |title=Breaking down the gender wage gap |publisher=United States Department of Labor Women's Bureau |access-date=3 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728035654/https://www.dol.gov/wb/media/gender_wage_gap.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This number varies by age, race, and other perceived attributes of hiring agents. A proposed step towards solving the problem of the gender pay gap and the unequal work opportunities is the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment which would constitutionally guarantee [[equal rights for women]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Soule |first1=Sarah A. |last2=Olzak |first2=Susan |title=When do Movements Matter? The Politics of Contingency and the Equal Rights Amendment |journal=[[American Sociological Review]] |date=2004 |volume=69 |issue=4 |pages=473–497 |doi=10.1177/000312240406900401 |s2cid=143583752}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Barbara A. |last2=Emerson |first2=Thomas I. |last3=Falk |first3=Gail |last4=Freedman |first4=Ann E. |title=The Equal Rights Amendment: A Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women |journal=[[The Yale Law Journal]] |date=1971 |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=871–985 |doi=10.2307/795228 |jstor=795228 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/2799}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ginsburg |first1=Ruth Bader |title=The Need for the Equal Rights Amendment |journal=American Bar Association Journal |date=1973 |volume=59 |issue=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Emerson |first1=Thomas I. |title=In Support of the Equal Rights Amendment |journal=Harv. CR-CLL Rev. |date=1970 |volume=6}}</ref> This is hoped to end gender-based discrimination and provide equal opportunities for women.