that vocational educators have a vital role to play in the full awareness in relation to aptitudes

100 Pages·2011·1.83 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
VT 014 690
ED 066 553
Fievit, Mary Bach
AUTHOR
A Review and Synthesis of Research on Women in the
TITLE
World of Work.
Columbus. Center for Vocational and
Ohio State Univ. ,
INSTITUTION
Technical Education.
Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, D.C.
SPONS AGENCY
Inf-Ser-56
REPORT NO
72
PUB DATE
99p.
NOTE
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Attitudes; Bibliographies; Career Ladders; Employment
DESCRIPTORS
Opportunities; Equal Opportunities (Jobs) ;
*Literature Reviews; Occupational Guidance; Promotion
(Occupational); *Research Reviews (Publications) ;
Vocat ional Counseling; *Vocational Education;
*Working Women
ABSTRACT
Materials dealing with gainful employment of women,
opportunities for employment and advancement, and maximizing
opportunities as a means of personal satisfaction and as a
contribution to society, were reviewed frbm the international and
national perspective, and as current trends and issues. Realizing
that vocational educators have a vital role to play in the full
realization of economi-q rights for women, recommendations for action
(1) increasing opportunities for developing vocational
include:
awareness in relation to aptitudes, abilities, and interests, (2)
improving counseling for career choice going beyond the feminine
recruiting girls into programs preparing for
occupations,
(3)
employment in a wider range of occupations and career ladders,
(4)
directing attention to preparation for the dual role of homemaker and
employee, and (5) initiating various research and action efforts to
modify attitudes of students, teachers, parents, and employers which
place artificial restrictions on occupations of women. (SB)
Information
Series No. 56
VT 014 690
cs,
.r
.0
.0
review and synthesis
of research on
WOMB IN THE
MO OF WORK
ERIC
Clearinghouse on Vocational
and Technical Education
Information Series No. 56
VT 014 690
REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF RESEARCH ON
WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF WORK
U.S. DEPARTMENT DF HEALTH.
EDUCATION & WELFARE
OFFICE OF EDUCATION
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO-
DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED
FROM
THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG-
INATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN-
IONS STArED DO NOT NECESSARILY
REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU
CATION POSITION OR POLICY
Mary Bach Kievit
Associate Professor
Vocational-Technical Education
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers-The State University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
ERIC Clearinghouse on Vocational and Technical Education
The Center for Vocational and Techuical Education
The Ohio State University
1900 Kenny Road
Columbus, Ohio 43210
March, 1972
The material in this publication was prepared pursuant to a contract with
the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Hedth, Education and Welfare.
Contractors undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encour-
aged to express freely their judgment in professional and technical matters.
Points of view or opinions do mot, therefore, necessarily represent official Office
of Education position or policy.
Ociernment
Moe, Washington, D.C. 20603
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3
PREFACE
The role of women in the working world varies constantly. Recognizing this
and because of the rapid increase of working women, this role is gaining in
importance for any study of the labor force. But, what is the working woman's
role today?
This review and synthesis report attempts to incorporate pertinent related
studies that have been made to this point in time. From here it expands to note
trends that suggest the changing roles for women. Much emphasis is given to the
"dual role" of many women.
Vocationaltechnical educators who desire to adapt their surriculum to
these changing roles will appreciate the efforts of this study. Researchers, as
well, will benefit.
is indebted to Mary Bach Kievit, Rutgers, The State
The profession
University, for her scholarship in the preparation of this report. Recognition is
also due Esther E. Matthews, University of Oregon, and Louise Vetter, The
Center, for their critical review of the manuscript prior to final revision and
publication. Weslzy E. Budke, information specialist at The Center, coordinated
the publication's development.
Robert E. Taylor
Director
The Center for Vocational and
Technical Education
ERIC Clearinghouse on Vocational
and Technical Education
INTRODUCTION
With the transfer of production from the home to the factory and services
to the office and shop, women have experienced difficulty in combining two
major functions of life, namely the reproductive and the economic. During an
earlier time women could weave broadcloth for the marketplace while caring for
young children; it was less feasible to combine care of the young with operating
machines in a textile mill. The socially defined role of women places primary
emphasis upon the care of children and husbands, and homemaking. Other
activities are considered in terms of the extent to which these impinge on
in the
fulfilling primary responsibilities. Thus writings concerning women
world of work almost without exception include treatment of relationships
between her "two roles." In
a time characterized by
high degree of
a
specialization, one encounters a more global approach in the literature on
gainfully employed women. Q:testions raised and researched include: "What
impact does the wife's emplorment have on the wife-husband relationship?";
"In what ways are children affected by the employment of mothers?"; "How is
her effectiveness as an employee influenced by her family composition and by
the attitudes of its members?"
The need to delimit the area for which literature was to be reviewed was
difficult. The boundaries within which materials were
the
critical;
task
considered and selected were as follows: The dominant theme must be on
gainful employment of w omen; opportunities
for employment
and
advancement; impediments and facilitators to maximizing those opportunities as
a means of personal satisfaction and achievement and as a contribution to
society. The sources of material included: Computer searchers of Abstracts of
in Vocational and Technical Education (AIM) and
Instructional Materials
Abstracts of Research and Related Materials in
Vocational and Technical
Current Index to Journals in
Education(ARM) through Winter,
1970;
Education through April, 1971; and Research in Education through June, 1971.
Descriptors used in the search included: females, women's education, vocational
education, trade and industrial education, job, business education, employment
statistics, labor force, career, home economics education, distributive education,
laborers, workMg women, foreign countries, manpower utilization, conference
reports, occupations.
The following periodicals were searched: International Labour Review,
January, 1968
July, 1971; Industrial Relations, January, 1968 through May,
1971; Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January 1968 through April,
1971; Monthly Labor Review, January,
1968 through July,
1971; U.S.
Department of Labor, Manpower Research Inventory, 1968, 1969; Manpower
Research Projects through June 30, 1970.
Other sources included recent books, 1968-1971; and the following Review
and Synthesis
Business and Office Education; Distributive
publications:
Education; Health
Occupations; Home Economics Education; Technical
Education; Trade and Industrial Education.
Research included in these reviews was, in large part, excluded from this
review, Women in the World of Work; as were studies specifically identified with
these vocational areas. Since women are employed in a relatively narrow range of
occupations, research
in some vocational areas pertains predominantly to
women. To avoid
to
redundancy, air',
this review
to manageable
keep
proportions, research reviewed in the% areas has been excluded.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
. v
. .3
WOMEN AT WORK: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
.
.3
Labor Force Participation
Vocational and Technical Training
11
Dual Roles
14
WOMEN AT WORK: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
19
Labor Force Participation
19
22
Work Pat terns
23
Why Do Women Work9
26
Problems Emountered
33
Employment and HQITle ma king
39
Occupations of Women
Potential Occupations and Opportunities
44
for Women
46
Educational Programs
54
Career Development of Women
69
CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES
69
Labor Force Participation
70
Automation, Unemployment, Leisure
Changing Manpower Requirements
71
Commitment to Full Employment, Equal
Opportunity to Employment and Equal Pay
73
75
CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS
75
Vocational Awareness Programs Devoid of Sex-Typing
76
Job Analrbis: Basis for Selecting and Recruiting
76
Job Clusters and Career Ladders
76
Vocational Education for Mature Women
Women as Vocational Educators
77
79
BIBLIOGRAPHY
vii
REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF RESEARCH ON
WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF WORK
WOMEN AT WORK: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Labor Force Participation
Human resources are an important factor
Numbers and Trends.
in
throughout the world constitute roughly
economk development. Women
one-half of those resources. At a period when nations vary greatly in the levels of
economic development, it is not surprising to find manpower analysts in most
countries considering the labor force participation of women. The comparability
of census procedures, including periods in which data are collected, type of data
collected, and definition of terms, pose
limitations upon the
precision of
force participation from one country
to
in labor
systematic comparisons
TABLE 1
WOMEN AS A PERCENTAGE OF ME CIVIL LABOUR FORCE OF THE
ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER COUNTRIES, AND PROPORTIONS OF WORKING WOMEN
WHO ARE UNPAID FAMILY WORKERSI
Unpaid Family Members
Women as Percent
as Percent of
Of
Year
Country
Civil Labour Force
Working Women
24.2
Austria
1961
41.3
15.1
1962
Belgium
31.6
1962
5.1
Canada
27.1
1962
Denmark
35.3
Eire
1961
26.7
18.9
1962
France
34.9
22.3
1962
Germany (F.R.)
36.9
55.1
Greece
1961
32.8
24.3
Italy
1962
29.0
1962
Luxemburg
20.0
1957
Netherlands
24.9
Norway
1961
22.9
28.2
1960
Portugal
18.4
16.5
Spain
1961
18.5
8.0
1962
Sweden
36.5
1960
Switzerland
30.1
1960
Turkey
40.9
United Kingdom
1961
34.4
4.2
1962
United States
34.1
25.7
1961
Yugoslavia
33.4
1 mein, 1965, p. 16.