Foundations of Sociological Inquiry

Getting A Job

Today’s Objectives Discuss Getting A Job What is the Research Question What Methods Were Used How Does it Relate to What We Think We Know

about Gender Inequality in the Labor Market Questions?

Who Wrote “Getting A Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty”?

1 2 3 4

1% 0%1%

99%1. Julie Brines & Kara Joyner

2. Shelly Correll, Stephen Benard & In Paik

3. Michelle Budig & Paula England

4. Deborah Anderson, Melissa Binder, & Kate Krause

What was the Research Question in “Getting A Job”?

1 2 3 4

1% 0%0%

99%1. What is the wage gap

between women and men?

2. Why would being a parent lead to disadvantages in the workplace for women?

3. Why are women more likely to take care of children?

4. How do workplaces help families manage work-family conflict?

What was the primary hypothesis in “Getting A Job”?

1 2 3 4

0%

96%

2%2%

1. the motherhood penalty exists because women don’t get as much education as men

2. the motherhood penalty exists because women are more likely to have children than men

3. the motherhood penalty exists because women are uncommitted workers

4. the motherhood penalty exists because cultural understandings of the motherhood role are in tension with the cultural understandings of the ideal worker role

What methods did Correll, Benard, & Paik use to study why parenthood is associated with workplace disadvantages for women?

1 2 3 4 5

1%

14%

78%

4%3%

1. ethnography

2. sample survey

3. a laboratory experiment

4. an audit study

5. a laboratory experiment and an audit study

What factors do Correll et al. offer as explanations for the motherhood wage gap in “Getting A Job”?

1 2 3 4 5

0%5%

67%

25%

3%

1. Reduced investment in human capital by mothers

2. Lower work effort by mothers compared with nonmothers

3. Unobserved heterogeneity between mothers and nonmothers

4. Discrimination against mothers by employers

5. All of the above

The laboratory experiment 192 paid undergraduates (84 men, 108 women) rated a pair of fictious job applicants:

equally qualified same gender (either male or female) same-race (either African-American or white) fictitious job applicants, presented as real, who differed

on parental status

student raters complete evaluation sheet competence and commitment ability standards evaluation (salary, promotion, mgmt training, hire)

The laboratory results Competency and commitment:

mothers perceived as less competent and less committed than non-mothers

Ability standards: mothers held to harsher performance and punctuality

standards Evaluation:

lower starting salaries for mothers mothers viewed as less promotable mothers less likely to be recommended for

management training mothers less likely to be recommended for hire

The audit study 1,276 applications to 648 employers Letters and resumes submitted in response to

newspaper ad for entry and mid-level marketing and business openings equally qualified gender signaled by name parent status signaled by PTA involvement and

reference to family in cover letter

The audit results Childless women more than twice as likely to

receive callback than women with children Fathers more likely to be called back than non-

fathers Childless women more likely to receive callbacks

than childless men

How Does “Getting A Job” Relate to What We Think We Know About Gender Inequality in the Labor Market?

How Does “Getting A Job” Relate to What We Think We Know About Gender Inequality in the Labor Market?

Methodological Employs both laboratory experiment and audit study to

investigate the mechanisms underlying observed gender inequalities and parenthood Audit study provides external validity

Finds that mothers are evaluated differently than fathers

How Does “Getting A Job” Relate to What We Think We Know About Gender Inequality in the Labor Market?

Methodological Employs both laboratory experiment and audit study to

investigate the mechanisms underlying observed gender inequalities and parenthood Audit study provides external validity

Finds that mothers are evaluated differently than fathers Theoretical

Supports theories of status-based discrimination Normative expectations about intensive mothering are

inconsistent with normative expectations of ideal workers

Questions?