The Psychology of Women at Work: Challenges and Solutions for Our Female Workforce, Volume 3, Self, Family, and Social Affects (Women's Psychology)

198 Pages·2008·1.91 MB·English

by  Michele A. Paludi

The Psychology of
Women at Work
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
RecentTitlesin
Women’sPsychology
‘‘Intimate’’ViolenceagainstWomen:WhenSpouses,Partners,orLoversAttack
PaulaK.Lundberg-LoveandShellyL.Marmion,editors
DaughtersofMadness:GrowingUpandOlderwithaMentallyIllMother
SusanNathiel
PsychologyofWomen:HandbookofIssuesandTheories,SecondEdition
FlorenceL.DenmarkandMicheleA.Paludi,editors
WomanSoul:TheInnerLifeofWomen’sSpirituality
CaroleA.RayburnandLillianComas-D(cid:2)ıaz
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
The Psychology of
Women at Work
Challenges and Solutions for
Our Female Workforce
Volume 3
Self, Family, and Social Affects
Edited by
M A. P
ICHELE ALUDI
PraegerPerspectives
Women’sPsychology
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The psychology ofwomenat work :challenges andsolutions forour female
workforce/ editedby MicheleA. Paludi
p. cm.—(Women’spsychology, ISSN 1931-0021)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN978-0-275-99677-2((set):alk.paper)—ISBN978-0-275-99679-6((vol.1):
alk.paper)—ISBN978-0-275-99681-9((vol.2):alk.paper)—
ISBN978-0-275-99683-3((vol.3):alk.paper)
1. Women—Employment—Psychological aspects. 2. Workandfamily.
3. Women—Jobstress.4. Women—Psychology. I.Paludi, MicheleAntoinette.
HD6053.P75 2008
158.7082—dc22 2008004119
BritishLibrary Cataloguing inPublication Data isavailable.
Copyright(cid:2)C 2008byMichele A.Paludi
Allrights reserved.Noportion ofthis bookmaybe
reproduced, byanyprocess ortechnique, without the
express written consent ofthe publisher.
Library ofCongressCatalog Card Number:2008004119
ISBN:978-0-275-99677-2 (set)
978-0-275-99679-6(vol. 1)
978-0-275-99681-9(vol. 2)
978-0-275-99683-3(vol. 3)
ISSN:1931-0021
Firstpublished in2008
PraegerPublishers, 88PostRoad West, Westport, CT06881
Animprint ofGreenwoodPublishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed inthe United StatesofAmerica
The paperused inthisbook complies with the
Permanent PaperStandard issuedbythe National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
For Antoinette and Michael Paludi, who encouraged me
to define what women’s work is for myself
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Chapter1: AggressiveMenandWitchyWomen:TheDouble
Standard
SusanStrauss 1
Chapter2: LessonsfromMyFather:InMyOwnVoice
SusanLehrman 21
Chapter3: Self-EsteemandHigh-AchievingWomen
TinaStern 25
Chapter4: WomeninHumanResources:InMyOwnVoice
LindaDillon 55
Chapter5: StressandHealth
PaulaLundberg-LoveandDonnaLeeFaulkner 59
Chapter6: PreparingtoBeEmployed:InMyOwnVoice
ChristaWhite 85
Chapter7: MentalHealthImpactofSexualHarassment
SusanFineranandJamesGruber 89
Chapter8: ReligionandWomenatWork
MichaelB.Mathias 109
Chapter9: WorkforceIssues:InMyOwnVoice
LuAnnHart 143
Chapter10: Society’sGains:EconomicsofWomenintheWorkplace
ZhilanFengandManeechitPattanapanchai 149
Index 173
AbouttheEditorandContributors 179
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
Acknowledgments
I thank Debbie Carvalko at Praeger for her encouragement and support
throughout the writing of these three volumes. It is an honor to work
with her. I also thank the graduate students in my human resources
classes for their comments about the changing nature of work for
women. I am confident that they will make a difference in the lives of
the next generation of women employees and their families. I am grate-
ful to Carrie Turco and Sharon Butler for their comments on earlier
versions of the introduction.
The following family, friends, and colleagues have been invaluable
during the preparation of these three volumes. Thank you to Rosalie
Paludi, Lucille Paludi, Presha Neidermeyer, and Paula Lundberg Love.
I especially acknowledge Carmen Paludi, Jr., for his friendship and
sage advice. Together we continue to make the dreams of our grand-
parents on Weaver Street into realities.
Finally, I wish to thank William Norton Dember, my advisor and
mentor in graduate school, who, like my parents, told me to seek my
own career path and be tough-minded and kindhearted at the same
time. I started drafting these books after I last saw Bill in May 2006,
when we discussed my career since graduate school (it had been
26 years since I received my PhD). He reminded me that I came to
work with him as a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati
because I was interested in the psychology of women’s work and
achievement motivation. Moreover, he inquired why I hadn’t written
or edited a book in that field during the course of my career. These
three volumes are in response to Bill’s question. Bill died in September
2006. These books are in tribute to him as a psychologist, mentor, pro-
fessor, colleague, and friend.
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction
Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed.
If I fail, no one will say, ‘‘She doesn’t have what it takes.’’
They will say, ‘‘Women don’t have what it takes.’’
—Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce’s sentiment was once again highlighted during the
preparation of these three volumes of The Psychology of Women at Work:
Challenges and Solutions for Our Female Workforce, when Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton announced her candidacy for the presidency of the
United States. Throughout the initial part of Senator Clinton’s candi-
dacy, comments about a woman president received media attention.
Polls from CNN.com (July 24, 2007) and YouTube (January 21, 2007;
March 5, 2007) reported the following quotations:
‘‘Hillary Clinton needs to wear a dress or skirt now and then. Her
always making public appearances in pants gives a sense she is trying to
‘fit in’with the boys,which isnever going tobe thecase.’’
‘‘Hillary iscute. Thoseareherqualifications forprez.’’
‘‘It’ll be nice to have a woman president but you know white America
won’t lether.’’
‘‘Women, above all, should reject hillary. Missus clinton is the biggest
misogynistof all.’’
‘‘hillary clinton running must be a joke! A woman for president! Ha!
Now that[’]sa joke.’’
Elizabeth Edwards, whose husband, John Edwards, also declared
his candidacy for president, joined the chorus in criticizing Hillary
Clinton. Elizabeth Edwards stated the following:
She [Hillary Clinton] and I are from the same generation. We both went
to law school and married other lawyers, but after that we made other
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.
xii Introduction
choices. I think my choices have made me happier. I think I’m more joy-
fulthansheis.
Elizabeth Edwards also stated, ‘‘Sometimes you feel you have to
behave as a man and not talk about women’s issues.’’
Mrs. Edwards’s comments prompted a comparison of the two
women—one perceived as ‘‘feminine’’ and the other ‘‘masculine.’’
Responses from a CNN.com poll (July 24, 2007) included the following:
‘‘It would be awesome if Hillary was more like Elizabeth. But Hillary
lacks the compassion and realness Elizabeth possesses.’’
Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC’s Tucker, asked a guest, ‘‘I mean,
let’s take this critique [by Elizabeth Edwards] seriously—is Hillary
Clinton too manly to be president?’’
This is in direct contrast to the view that many people had of Con-
gresswoman Patricia Schroeder, who, when she dropped out of run-
ning for U.S. president in 1984, cried. This raised the question of
whether a woman was too ‘‘emotional’’ to be president. Schroeder
(1998) wrote, ‘‘Crying is almost a ritual that male politicians must do
to prove they are compassionate, but women are supposed to wear
iron britches.’’
In 1870, when Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for presi-
dent, declared her candidacy, the New York Herald commented: ‘‘She is
ratherinadvanceofhertime.Thepublicmindisnotyeteducatedtothe
pitch of universal woman’s [sic] rights’’ (‘‘Woman’s Idea of Govern-
ment,’’1870,p.6).In2008wearestillhearingargumentsthattheUnited
Statesisnotreadyforawomanpresident—aviewexpressednotonlyto
Victoria Woodhull but also to other women candidates for president
before Hillary Clinton: Margaret Chase Smith (in 1964), Shirley Chisolm
(in 1972), Patricia Schroeder (in 1984), Elizabeth Dole (in 2000), and Car-
olyn Moseley Braun (in 2004). Similar comments were directed toward
Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to be placed on a national presiden-
tial ticket (as Walter Mondale’s vice president in 1984). Ferraro was
criticized for wearing short-sleeved dresses while campaigning because
herarmswobbledwhenshewaved(considerednot‘‘feminine’’).
‘‘The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females
begins when the doctor says, ‘It’s a girl,’’’ Shirley Chisholm once noted.
Gender-role stereotypes about ‘‘appropriate’’ and ‘‘inappropriate’’
occupations for women still abound. Gender stereotyping is a psycho-
logical process that illustrates a structured set of beliefs about the per-
sonal attributes of females and males (Ashmore & DelBoca, 1981;
Doyle & Paludi, 1997; Fiske & Stevens, 1993). When asked to describe a
woman, for example, individuals commonly cite ‘‘caring,’’ ‘‘nurturing,’’
‘‘sensitive,’’ and ‘‘passive.’’ When asked to name a woman’s occupa-
tion, individuals cite ‘‘nurse,’’ ‘‘elementary school teacher,’’ or ‘‘social
worker,’’ but not ‘‘president of the United States.’’
© 2010 ABC-Clio. All Rights Reserved.