It's A Man's Job, or So They Say: The Maintenance of Sex Segregation in a Manufacturing Plant

Abstract

AbstractFollowing Reskin's call for case studies that investigate how inequality is maintained, this article investigates the mechanisms that limit women's mobility into traditionally male job titles in a manufacturing plant and the barriers to women's resistance of these mechanisms. The article demonstrates the ways in which formal structures, such as departmental design and promotion procedures, combine with informal social interactions in maintaining sex segregation in the plant's job titles and departments. Blocked opportunity promotes competition for social rewards and animosity between mobile and immobile women, which divide women. Coupled with allegiances across gender lines, these divisions undermine the potential for solidarity among female workers, making resistance to gender-based barriers unlikely. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI thank Roberto Fernandez for his generous support and insight throughout the project. I am also grateful to Christopher Wellin for his thoughtful advice and colleagueship. Mary Corcaran, Arlene Kaplan Daniels, Mark Granovetter, Carol Heimer, Christopher Jencks, Susan Lambert, Susan Mayer, Robert Nelson, Judith Seltzer, David Shulman, and Arthur Stinchcombe provided helpful comments on earlier drafts. Peter Kivisto and the anonymous reviewers made wise and constructive suggestions. Kai Guterman lent excellent research assistance. My deep appreciation goes to the management and workforce of the company for allowing me to conduct this research and for their candor in answering my questions. This research has been funded by grants from the Rockefeller and Russell Sage Foundations and the Geography and Regional Science Program of the National Science Foundation (No. SBR-9311319).NOTESNotes1 This discussion is not meant to imply that women never protest the inequities that stem from sex segregation. Indeed, the comparable worth movement and other organizing work on the part of working women led to many of the gains women have made in the labor market over the last several decades.2 For confidentiality, I have changed the names of the company and all workers discussed. I have also altered some of the names of job titles and departments.3 Because of liability issues, the company management only allowed us to perform work tasks if we were officially hired. They were willing to hire us as temporary workers, but only for a short period. After our days as temps, we spent time on the shop floor interacting with and observing workers, but we no longer actually worked shifts.4 This difference is statistically significant at the 0.001 level.5 The formula for the index of dissimilarity is: where: wi = the number of women in the ith job title or department, W = the total number of female hourly workers in the plant, mi = the number of men in the ith job title or department, and M = the total number of male hourly workers in the plant.6 The variance around mean years of education is slightly larger for men than women.7 This difference is significant at the 0.08 level.8 The Finishing department conducts the last stage of transformation from ingredients to final product before the product is packed. Product goes directly from Finishing machinery to Packing, hence the close association of the two departments.