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Crittenden states, “The interesting question here is why the worldwide problem of absentee fathers has been interpreted in Sweden as a call for equal parenting while in the U.S. the same phenomenon has prompted cries for a return to traditional marriage, complete with breadwinner husband and stay-at-home wife.” Do you agree with her assessment of the American response to this problem? If so, why do you think there is this difference between the two countries? Why, in the U.S., are women often blamed if they find themselves parenting in a family that does not resemble the ideal traditional family? How might we challenge these ideas? Cite from the readings to support your response12 point font no longer than palation double space
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The Anti-Mommy Bias
Publication info: New York Times (Online) , New York: New York Times Company. Mar 26, 2009.
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ABSTRACT (ENGLISH)
Employers sometimes assume that women with care responsibilities will be, and should be, less committed to
their jobs. Such assumptions and beliefs can influence employment outcomes even when caregivers work just as
long and hard as everybody else, an economist writes.
FULL TEXT
Nancy Folbre is a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Employers often define ideal managers as individuals who are not only smart, reliable and committed, but also
willing to drop everything else in their life to get the job done. Like the protagonists of Ayn Rand novels, managers
should be unencumbered by responsibilities for the care of dependents (who cannot always be dropped).
In a telling episode last December, Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania praised the appointment of Gov. Janet
Napolitano of Arizona as secretary of Homeland Security, “because for that job you have to have no life. Janet has
no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19-20 hours a day to it.” Governor Rendell did not realize his
microphone was on. He later explained that he has no life either.
During the 1920s and 1930s, many employers refused to hire married women, or fired them once they married. As
my fellow Economix blogger Casey Mulligan points out, such “marriage bars” are not allowed today. But family
responsibilities still weigh more heavily on women than on men, accounting for much of the pay gap between the
sexes. Some policy analysts argue that mothers make a lifestyle choice, opting for easier, more flexible work over
greater responsibility and higher pay. Others, like myself, argue that our economic system imposes unfair penalties
on those who care for others.
But shouldn’t both sides in this debate protest when women (or men) are penalized simply because they are
caregivers? Considerable evidence suggests that maternal responsibility intensifies gender stereotyping in harmful
—and often illegal —ways.
Employers sometimes assume that women with care responsibilities will be, and should be, less committed to
their jobs. Such assumptions and beliefs can influence employment outcomes even when caregivers work just as
long and hard as everybody else.
Joan Williams of the University of California Hastings College of the Law has pioneered analysis of the impact of a
“maternal wall” on women’s career trajectories. A growing body of case law develops the concept of Family
Responsibilities Discrimination. The literal acronym is FRD, but it is sometimes referred to as FRED, a name that is
easier to remember.
In May 2007, the Equal Opportunities Employment Commission issued official guidance on FRED, explaining
circumstances under which discrimination against caregivers violates existing law.
It’s not always easy to determine whether discriminatory attitudes —rather than difficult-to-measure differences in
actual job performance —underlie disparate outcomes. But sociologists Shelley Correll, Stephen Benard and In
Paik take a step in this direction with research analyzing responses to job applications with credentials equivalent
except for signals of parenthood.
In one experiment, about 200 undergraduates were asked to rate paired applications for an imaginary midlevel
managerial job. Both female and male students rated mothers lower on competence and commitment,
recommended lower salaries for them, and judged them less worthy of promotion than childless women.
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In an even more convincing audit study, fictional résumés and cover letters were sent to employers advertising
midlevel marketing and business job openings at a large Northeastern city newspaper. Childless women received
2.1 times as many callbacks as mothers.
Fathers, however, were not penalized.
The experimental evidence here, as in other audit studies, strongly suggests that employers are influenced by
cultural norms and signals of group membership as well as individual merit.
Ayn Rand probably never sent out a résumé, never had children and didn’t particularly like them. But she didn’t like
hypocritical double standards, either.
DETAILS
Subject:
Families &family life; Responsibilities; Caregivers; Mothers; Employment; Employers
Location:
Massachusetts Arizona Pennsylvania California
People:
Napolitano, Janet Mulligan, Casey Rand, Ayn (1905-1982)
Company / organization:
Name: Hastings College of the Law; NAICS: 611310
Publication title:
New York Times (Online); New York
Publication year:
2009
Publication date:
Mar 26, 2009
Section:
business
Publisher:
New York Times Company
Place of publication:
New York
Country of publication:
United States, New York
Publication subject:
General Interest Periodicals–United States
Source type:
Blog, Podcast, or Website
Language of publication:
English
Document type:
News
ProQuest document ID:
2220346171
Document URL:
https://login.libproxy.uncg.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/blogspodcasts-websites/anti-mommy-bias/docview/2220346171/se-2?accountid=14604
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 The New York Times Company
Last updated:
2019-10-30
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Database:
ProQuest Central
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