Encountering the Male Establishment: Sex-Status Limits on Women's Careers in the Professions

TLDR: The processes and structure of the professions in the United States which act to limit women's participation and achievement within them are identified.

Abstract: Despite impressive extensions in the scope of women's social and political rights, there have been few extensions of sex-linked boundaries in the prestigious, male-dominated professions. This paper identifies the processes and structure of the professions in the United States which act to limit women's participation and achievement within them. Because their sex status is defined within the culture of professions as inappropriate, women find that the institutionalized channels of recruitment and advancement, such as the protege system, are not available to them. Various modes of behavior on the part of women and their colleagues are described which are consequences of women's minority position and which reinforce it. Social changes affecting the traditional structures and opening careers in the professional hierarchy are discussed.

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City University of New York (CUNY) City University of New York (CUNY)
CUNY Academic Works CUNY Academic Works
Publications and Research CUNY Graduate Center
1970
Encountering the Male Establishment: Sex-Status Limits on Encountering the Male Establishment: Sex-Status Limits on
Women's Careers in the Professions Women's Careers in the Professions
Cynthia Fuchs Epstein
CUNY Graduate Center
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  
 
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
         
  
         
    
       

       
 
       

   
        
     
         

         
          
            

    
 
         
        
           


       
         
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

  Woman's Place: Options and Limits in Professial Careers,




         



965


           
         
        
            
     

2


    
3
   
4
 
 
       
     
 
          
         
 
          
    

           

         
          
         



  
     
          
         
2      
   
             
          




3
     
               

4
             

   



       
     
           
 

5
       
             

      
            
 
        
  

 
 










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 
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

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

       

 
  
     
     
          
           
     
   

6


             
          
            
 

6
             
 
             
 (Nw York Times,  
967


        
         
        

 

           
 
     
 
       
          
  
  
          
          
  
         
 
           

           


         

       

CHARACTERISTICS OF PROFESSIONS
   
      




         
  
      
         
          
          
 
