Post 14

Britton uses the theory of gendered organization to frame her research question around the massive problems of “wage gap between men and women workers.” Due to occupational segregation women are still currently getting paid less then men in the workforce. She uses this theory to research why “occupational segregation is so persistent, why jobs pay less for women, and what factors is keeping women at the bottom of the ladder?” Britton based her question on three possible answers which includes “the structure of work organizations, cultural and ideology assumptions, and the agency of workers themselves” (pg. 6.) Britton states that the key assumptions to these problems are that gender is an on going process. Gender is a social construction and society is unequal. Society placed traditional roles on gender since the beginning of time which now results in our society creating jobs that are segregated. Not only do society and gender play a role on this but culture, structure, and agency do as well. According to Britton, organizational structure falls within the form of “policies and practices.” Culture in a way represents these organizations in “gendered ways” which results culture, and structure, interlinking together the process of gender organizations. Structure results in the “bounded context.” Culture, however, results in the effect of “jobs choices.” However, what is meant by Britton when she stated that “organizations are gendered at the level of structure,” is that organizations are built off of “public and private spheres” that is between production and reproduction. Therefore, public and private spheres become gendered concepts by having these organizations that involves work life and private which is things such as “child care, sexuality, eating, and childbirth.” Women are more than likely to get caught in the middle of these spheres because they would have to make decisions within public and private spheres because of child care arrangements and maternity leaves which can weaken their chances of being good candidates for employment.