Thank You Jessica
A response to a discussion question in class:
Thank you Jessica. That is not exactly my position.
To understand my position, first we have to discuss what choice is and what choice isn’t: by saying “self-select” (Nadler & Stockdale, pp. 282, 2012) they’re implying that this is a clear choice, made inside of a vacuum, outside of any real demands in relation to reality. However, it’s not self-selection, it’s not a choice made entirely out of free will, it’s a choice made with societal factors weighing heavily on the person who has to choose, and as we’ve both discovered in our research, the majority of this pressure is placed squarely on the shoulders of one section of society and not the other: if, as you state, you too desire a fulfilling career and salary, but instead have chosen a career for the betterment of your family, how free were you in making that choice? How much societal pressure was placed on you, instead of your husband (or partner, I won’t presume to know your family situation), to take the lower paying job? How many young women in schools are bullied into choosing a profession so they can also “plan a family around it?” – that’s not self-selection, that’s not choice, that’s coercion in a system that’s setup to reward men and punish women.
While Konrad states, in a very matter-of-fact fashion in her paper (first paragraph) that “For example, men more than women, value jobs that provide opportunities to earn a high income. Women more than men value jobs that do not require long hours of work and that provide flexibility in work schedules” (Konrad, pp. 53, 2003) the question is then raised as to why women value these jobs and if they in fact really value them, or if they take them and then place value on them because it fits into a framework that they were actually coerced into accepting (getting back to what choice is and what choice isn’t). Citing from Kroska, Konrad correctly points out that “People can accommodate themselves to adverse situations through the use of cognitive reinterpretation (Kroska, 1997)” (Konrad, pp. 37, 2003) which brings us back to my question of do women really value jobs that do not require long hours of work and that provide flexibility in work schedules, or because of an adverse (i.e. discriminatory) situation, are many (most?) using cognitive reinterpretation to say “this is what I value.”
And while entrepreneurship may provide women with an option, and that’s a positive thing, it’s still unsettling to see the majority heterosexual white male face of Fortune 500 executives that is, quite possibly, as far as it is possible to be from being diverse. Boasting a whole 6 black CEOs, a whopping 9 Asian CEOs, six whole Latino CEOs (note: not Latina) and only 20 CEOs who are women (DiversityInc, 2012) I think we’d be hard pressed to say that in the field of big business, women (or minorities) are having their voices heard. Further, I think that by saying things like “self-select,” or by further propagating this kind of phrasing, this terminology is – in an underhanded way – placing the fault of this lack of diversity and representation onto women (‘well, they choose it!’), instead of onto the system that coerces them and pressures them and discriminates against them into choosing ‘traditional’ (a loaded word) gender roles.
So while Konrad’s charts show that women have these preferences (Konrad, 2003), I question strongly whether these preferences are genuine, or a result of coercion. It is my sincerest hope, as a feminist, that women keep fighting, and that one day there will be true diversity and equality in business, that will lead to an incredibly exciting time of competition and free markets, based on qualification, education, skill and cunning – not on XX or XY chromosomes.
Works Cited:
DiversityInc. (2012, October 4). Where’s the Diversity in Fortune 500 CEOs? Retrieved from http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-facts/wheres-the-diversity-in-fortune-500-ceos/
Konrad, A. M. (2003). Family Demands and Job Attribute Preferences: A 4-Year Longitudinal Study of Women and Men. Sex Roles, 49(1/2), 35-46.
Nadler, J. T., & Stockdale, M. S. (2012). Workplace Gender Bias: Not Just Between Strangers. North American Journal Of Psychology, 14(2), 281-291.