new jobs going to men in US

metrovelvet

It looks like in the US economic recovery 90% of new jobs are going to the men. One of the reasons pointed to is 'provider sympathy' as well as slashes in the public sector, which had drawn a lot of female employees.

Do you think the same kind of things will happen when the Irish economy recovers?


http://abcnews.go.com/US/unemployment-recession-men-return-work-women-left-economic/story?id=13185406

Stimulus Spending Favors Male Workers

While government spending has gone toward investments in infrastructure like roads, there have been cuts in public education and other public-sector service jobs. Women make up some 57 percent of the public workforce, but between July 2009 and Feb. 2011, they lost a far higher proportion of the jobs. Nearly 80 percent of the public-sector jobs cut during that period were held by women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As unemployed women look for work, experts also point to cultural biases that may hinder their search. While anti-discrimination laws prohibit the practice, some employers may believe that male workers will clock longer hours or be more dedicated to their jobs.

"Women undertake more of the family work than men do," said Frances Rosenbluth, a professor of international politics and deputy provost for the social sciences at Yale University. "Despite laws, people won't hire women for jobs that require long hours or travel."

American Families Depend on Female Earnings

An out-of-work man may also benefit from an employer's sympathetic assumption that he's his family's breadwinner, even though American families have come to depend on income from women far more than in decades past. Strober said that wives now contribute roughly 30 percent of a married couple's earnings, and nearly a quarter of children under 18 live in single-mother households.

"There's a lot of evidence that historically when jobs are scarce, employers favor men because they feel that it's up to men to earn a family wage and support their families," said Strober. "That is still true, but it's also true that women need to support their families."

At the high end of the employment pool, women may have been affected more by the recession than many realized. Female leaders at the most senior levels of companies were three times more likely to lose jobs than men during the recession, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focusing on women and business.

Catalyst found that part of the reason for that disparity is that women's mentors were less senior than those of men, and when it comes time to lay off employees, that can be a disadvantage.

"A lot of those discussions happen behind closed doors. Your mentor is a person who, behind that door, is saying, 'No, we can't lose her,'" said Jan Combopiano, vice president and chief knowledge officer for Catalyst. "What you need is an advocate, a champion in your corner."

metrovelvet

metrovelvet wrote: »

It looks like in the US economic recovery 90% of new jobs are going to the men. One of the reasons pointed to is 'provider sympathy' as well as slashes in the public sector, which had drawn a lot of female employees.

Do you think the same kind of things will happen when the Irish economy recovers?

I think the unemployment was supposed to be strongly weighted towards men in the first place here, wasn't it? So I suppose it will look like jobs will be going toward the men in the first place from sheer numbers

Stheno

bluewolf wrote: »

I think the unemployment was supposed to be strongly weighted towards men in the first place here, wasn't it? So I suppose it will look like jobs will be going toward the men in the first place from sheer numbers

I agree with this, the sheer volume of applicants who are male given the meltdown of the construction industry etc is going to be huge, I saw a stat today that 80 of the newly unemployed are male, so obviously they are going to make up a greater amount of applicants.

I would tend to agree somewhat that employers do have a preference at times for male candidates if the requirements of the role are for travel/non traditional hours as there is a perception there that men are going to be happier to facilitate this than women.

alex73

If a family has kids there is a major push to get the father back to work. I think people need to get away from the idea that just because a mother is at home looking after the kids that this is not "work". I know 3 women who I have worked with that as soon as they had kids they wanted to dedicate their time to them.

Of course there are other women who like non family related work.

Stheno

alex73 wrote: »

If a family has kids there is a major push to get the father back to work. I think people need to get away from the idea that just because a mother is at home looking after the kids that this is not "work". I know 3 women who I have worked with that as soon as they had kids they wanted to dedicate their time to them.

Of course there are other women who like non family related work.

I'm not sure I get your point? Why would it be the case that if a family had kids then the push would be to get the father back to work? The father could choose to be the SAHP rather then the mother?

And what's your point that there are other women who like non family related work? 46% of the workforce in Ireland in 2010 were women?