Penalizing Men Who Request a Family Leave: Is Flexibility Stigma a Femininity Stigma?
TL;DR: This article found that men who request a family leave are viewed as poor organizational citizens and ineligible for rewards, while women suffer from a poor worker stigma and agentic masculine traits (e.g., competitive and ambitious).
Abstract: Men who request a family leave are viewed as poor organizational citizens and ineligible for rewards. In addition to a poor worker stigma, we found that male leave requesters suffer femininity stigma. Compared with control targets, male leave requesters were viewed as higher on weak, feminine traits (e.g., weak and uncertain), and lower on agentic masculine traits (e.g., competitive and ambitious). Perceptions of weakness uniquely predicted greater risk for penalties (e.g., being demoted or downsized) and fully accounted for the effect of poor worker stigma on male leave requesters’ penalties. By contrast, the poor worker stigma and both agency and weakness perceptions contributed to their reward recommendations. Results were comparable regardless of the reason given for requesting a family leave, target race (White or Black), and participant gender. The implications of these findings for work–life balance and gender equality are discussed.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The authors discusses the workplace consequences of both descriptive gender stereotypes and prescriptive gender stereotypes, and their implications for women's career progress, concluding that gender stereotypes give rise to biased judgments and decisions, impeding women's advancement.
834 citations
TL;DR: The status incongruity hypothesis (SIH) as discussed by the authors suggests that women are penalized for status violations because doing so defends the gender hierarchy, and that backlash functions to preserve male dominance by reinforcing a double standard for power and control.
751 citations
TL;DR: Flexibility programs have become widespread in the United States, but their use has not. as mentioned in this paper found that 79% of companies say they allow some of their employees, and 37% officially allow all or most employees, to periodically change starting or quitting times (Galinsky, Bond, & Sakai, 2008).
Abstract: Flexibility programs have become widespread in the United States, but their use has not. According to a recent study, 79% of companies say they allow some of their employees, and 37% officially allow all or most of their employees, to periodically change starting or quitting times (Galinsky, Bond, & Sakai, 2008). Although researchers often regard the official availability of flexibility and other work–life policies as an indicator of an organization’s responsiveness to employees’ work–life concerns (Davis & Kalleberg, 2006), having policies on the books does not always mean that workers feel comfortable using these policies (Blair-Loy, Wharton, & Goodstein, 2011). Studies that have assessed usage rates generally find that usage rates are low. This has proved a remarkably resilient problem. The basic forms of workplace flexibility have been around for decades: flextime, part-time schedules, compressed workweeks, job shares (Friedman, n.d.). Yet usage of these programs
447 citations
Cites background or result from "Penalizing Men Who Request a Family..."
...This finding is confirmed by the studies in this issue (Berdahl & Moon, 2013; Rudman & Mescher, 2013; Vandello et al., 2013)....
[...]
...…stigma if they signal that caregiving responsibilities impinge in any way on their jobs (Allen, 2001; Berdahl & Moon, 2013; Butler & Skattebo, 2004; Coltrane, Miller, DeHaan, & Stewart, 2013; Rudman & Mescher, 2013; Vandello, Hettinger, Bosson, & Siddiqi, 2013; Wayne and Cordiero, 2003)....
[...]
[...]
TL;DR: A stigma complex is proposed, a system of interrelated, heterogeneous parts bringing together insights across disciplines to provide a more realistic and complicated sense of the challenge facing research and change efforts.
Abstract: Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, research on stigma has continued. Building on conceptual and empirical work, the recent period clarifies new types of stigmas, expansion of measures, identification of new directions, and increasingly complex levels. Standard beliefs have been challenged, the relationship between stigma research and public debates reconsidered, and new scientific foundations for policy and programs suggested. We begin with a summary of the most recent Annual Review articles on stigma, which reminded sociologists of conceptual tools, informed them of developments from academic neighbors, and claimed findings from the early period of “resurgence.” Continued (even accelerated) progress has also revealed a central problem. Terms and measures are often used interchangeably, leading to confusion and decreasing accumulated knowledge. Drawing from this work but focusing on the past 14 years of stigma research (including mental illness, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS, and race/ethnici...
445 citations
Cites background from "Penalizing Men Who Request a Family..."
...…(Byrne & Carr 2005), voluntary childlessness (Park 2002), infertility (Donkor & Sandall 2007), abortion (Kumar et al. 2009), family leave (Rudman & Mescher 2013), sexual orientation (Herek 2004); the uptake of social benefits, e.g., Medicaid (Palmer et al. 2004), public housing (Stuber &…...
[...]
References
More filters
TL;DR: The authors argues that organizational structure is not gender neutral; on the contrary, assumptions about gender underlie the documents and contracts used to construct organizations and to provide the commonsense ground for theorizing about them.
Abstract: In spite of feminist recognition that hierarchical organizations are an important location of male dominance, most feminists writing about organizations assume that organizational structure is gender neutral. This article argues that organizational structure is not gender neutral; on the contrary, assumptions about gender underlie the documents and contracts used to construct organizations and to provide the commonsense ground for theorizing about them. Their gendered nature is partly masked through obscuring the embodied nature of work. Abstract jobs and hierarchies, common concepts in organizational thinking, assume a disembodies and universal worker. This worker is actually a man; men's bodies, sexuality, and relationships to procreation and paid work are subsumed in the image of the worker. Images of men's bodies and masculinity pervade organizational processes, marginalizing women and contributing to the maintenance of gender segregation in organizations. The positing of gender-neutral and disembodie...
5,562 citations
01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: The analysis of sex differences in social behavior is presented as a new theory and a new method based on research published in “Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A New Theory and a New Method.”
Abstract: Contents: The Analysis of Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A New Theory and a New Method. Sex Differences in Helping Behavior. Sex Differences in Aggressive Behavior. Sex Differences in Other Social Behaviors. The Interpretation of Sex Differences in Social Behavior.
3,880 citations
"Penalizing Men Who Request a Family..." refers background in this paper
..., fathers are awarded higher starting salaries than childless men; Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007), this bonus is likely due to men’s traditional role as the primary breadwinner (Eagly, 1987)....
[...]
...Although these findings may appear contrary to evidence suggesting a bonus for fatherhood (e.g., fathers are awarded higher starting salaries than childless men; Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007), this bonus is likely due to men’s traditional role as the primary breadwinner (Eagly, 1987)....
[...]
TL;DR: A theory of sexism formulated as ambivalence toward women and validated by a corresponding measure, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI), is presented in this paper, which taps two positively correlated components of sexism that nevertheless represent opposite evaluative orientations toward women: sexist antipathy or Hostile Sexism and a subjectively positive (for sexist men ) orientation toward women, Benevolent Sexism (BS).
Abstract: The authors present a theory of sexism formulated as ambivalence toward women and validate a corresponding measure, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). The ASI taps 2 positively correlated components of sexism that nevertheless represent opposite evaluative orientations toward women: sexist antipathy or Hostile Sexism (HS) and a subjectively positive ( for sexist men ) orientation toward women, Benevolent Sexism (BS). HS and BS are hypothesized to encompass 3 sources of male ambivalence: Paternalism, Gender Differentiation, and Heterosexuality. Six ASI studies on 2,250 respondents established convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Overall ASI scores predict ambivalent attitudes toward women, the HS scale correlates with negative attitudes toward and stereotypes about women, and the BS scale (for nonstudent men only) correlates with positive attitudes toward and stereotypes about women. A copy of the ASI is provided, with scoring instructions, as a tool for further explorations of sexist ambivalence.
3,302 citations
TL;DR: A study of 422 employees and their supervisors from 58 departments of two banks found that citizenship behavior includes at least two separate dimensions Altruism, or helping specific persons, and Generalized Compliance, a more impersonal form of conscientious citizenship.
Abstract: It is argued here that a category of performance called citizenship behavior is important in organizations and not easily explained by the same incentives that induce entry, conformity to contractual role prescriptions, or high production A study of 422 employees and their supervisors from 58 departments of two banks sought to elaborate on the nature and predictors of citizenship behavior Results suggest that citizenship behavior includes at least two separate dimensions Altruism, or helping specific persons, and Generalized Compliance, a more impersonal form of conscientious citizenship Job satisfaction, as a measure of chronic mood state, showed a direct predictive path to Altruism but not Generalized Compliance Rural background had direct effects on both dimensions of citizenship behavior The predictive power of other variables (e g , leader supportiveness as assessed independently by co-workers, personality measures) varied across the two dimensions of citizenship behavior
3,135 citations
TL;DR: The authors study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers and find that white names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews than African-Americans.
Abstract: We study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. To manipulate perceived race, resumes are randomly assigned African-American- or White-sounding names. White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. Callbacks are also more responsive to resume quality for White names than for African-American ones. The racial gap is uniform across occupation, industry, and employer size. We also find little evidence that employers are inferring social class from the names. Differential treatment by race still appears to still be prominent in the U.S. labor market. (JEL J71, J64).
2,890 citations