Lisa Belkin's The Opt-Out Revolution

1482 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of gender discrimination at work

I. Synopsis
The main argument posed by Lisa Belkin in “The Opt-Out Revolution” revolves around the multi-faceted issue of women’s involvement and presence in the paid work sector. Belkin argues that the issue of the unequal representation of women in full-time, full-year careers is a culmination of the impact of the maternal wall, the nature of the “stalled revolution”, and personal life “decisions” made by women. Throughout her work, Belkin addresses the tangible reality of the maternal wall and it’s impact on women’s ability to climb the corporate ladder, as well as the obstacles it creates for women seeking to re-enter the workforce post-childbirth. Belkin elaborates on the “stalled revolution” that women and feminists alike are facing today, citing explanations varying from the essentialist belief of inherent biological differences between men and women to the role of socialization in the creation of gender roles. One of Belkin’s more interesting arguments involves the difference between women’s definition of success and men’s, and the impact it has on their respective definitions of work. In sum, Belkin’s primary thesis is to discover the elements present that are directly impacting the schism between men’s and women’s work.
II. Critical Review
Most importantly, Belkin acknowledges the monumental progress that feminists have made in the short forty years preceding modern women’s rights. With this in mind, Belkin also seeks to uncover the elements responsible for the “stalled revolution” that women are encountering in the workplace. The rapid progress made by women in those forty years has come to a halt; in the past decade, society has seen relatively insignificant progress in the realm of women’s equality at the workplac...

... middle of paper ...

...omen choosing to opt-out, or is there no other option”? To answer these questions, future research questions should address whether the implementation of family-friendly policies and organizational restructuring would actually impact the “opt-out” phenomenon, and more importantly, are women actually choosing to opt-out, or is there just no other viable option?

Works Cited

Armstrong, Lisa. 2010. “Success Redefined.” Work Mother. 33(7):83-84,86.
Belkin, Lisa. 2003. “The Opt-Out Revolution,” The New York Times, October 26, pp. 1-15.
Mainiero, Lisa A. and Sullivan, Sherry E. 2005. “Kaleidoscope Careers: An Alternate Explanation for the “Opt-Out” Revolution.” Academy Of Management Executive. 19(1):106-123.
Porter, Nicole B. 2006. “Re-Defining Superwoman: An Essay on Overcoming the Maternal Wall in the Legal Workplace.” Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, 13:106.

Show More
Related

  • The Challenges Of Feminism In The 1960's

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms” (Baptiste). Just as in the past, feminism continues to act as a controversial issue among men and women. In the 1960’s, women finally addressed workplace inequity and created woman organizations to achieve equality. In the early 1960’s, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act set a milestone for women’s progression towards work equality. Though women have made great leaps towards true equality, women still face many challenges and continue to be categorized as the subservient gender.

    Read More

  • The Second Shift

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even Though women have revolutionized themselves in relation to the world many other aspects of society have not. This phenomenon, originally coined by Arielle Hochschild in her book The Second Shift, is known as the stalled revolution. In essence while female culture has shifted male culture has not. This has created an unequal, unfair and oppressive atmosphere for women across the nation. The title of Hochschild's book tells it all. The second shift refers to the second shift of work women are and have been burdened with at home. Although they have made enormous leaps within the economy and workforce their gender roles at home and within society remain the same. Male culture and their ideas of female gender roles have not progressed. As a result needs of females have not been met. Working mothers today work more than any other demographic, a rough estimate of this comes out to be a whole extra month of work consisting of twenty four hour work days.

    Read More

  • Sexism in the Workplace

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, if women are brave enough to destroy their own barriers and are with people that really help them, women can attain successful in the workplace; moreover, they will see less sexism in their workplace. In the past, women fought for the right to vote, and they fought for civil rights. Now, women and other people can fight to eliminate discrimination against women in the workplace. The United States fought for the right to eliminate discrimination many times such as after the Civil War and the World War II, and now as a country people have to fight to eliminate the discrimination against women in order to be called “The country of Freedom and Civil Rights.”

    Read More

  • Disorderly Women : Gender And Labor

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    After all, a late grant has modified that detailing by uncovering a great record of female activism. The assignment is to depict and celebrate as well as to contextualize and along these lines to get it. Also, the structure of the work power and the business, the worldwide strengths that encroached on nearby occasions these particularities of time and place adapted ladies ' decisions and molded their personalities. Similarly, vital was a private world customarily pushed to the edges of work history. Female relationships and genders, between generations and class collisions, held the fuse of new shopper wishes into an element territorial culture stimulated ladies ' support. Ladies thusly were authentic subjects, making the circumstances from which the strik...

    Read More

  • Pearl Brewer And Black Stress

    2579 Words  | 6 Pages

    Furthermore, future research might be focused on strategies that can help women combat the superwoman schema in order to better their experiences with and memories of motherhood. Also it is reasonable to suggest that scholars study and compare the experiences of other mothers of color who fit into the superwoman role and those who do not endorse the superwoman schema. This will allow for greater understanding of histories and greater applicability of instruments made to measure or counteract this role of strong Black woman/superwomen.

    Read More

  • How Gender Bias Affect Women In The Workforce Case Study

    1812 Words  | 4 Pages

    While the median weekly pay for women rose in the past decades, it is still largely inferior to the median weekly pay of men employed in the same jobs. This difference of pay also puts an additional burden on women who are expected to stay home when emergencies arise. They cannot in some cases pay for daycare or rely on their companies’ understanding that someone has to take care of the family obligations. In result, they are penalized when comes the time to find candidates for promotion and are seen as not as dependable as their male counterparts. Finally, women face a social bias against them that encompass gender, appearance and race. It effectively punishes them for reasons that are out of their own control and not related to their job performance and skills. Laws against gender-based discrimination, more flexible workplace arrangements and a change in our culture regarding women may help fight discrimination and help women reach their full potential in the workforce. By starting to allow for more flexibility, paying women on a comparable scale than the one used for men, and support women in their desire to take care of their families, corporations could set the tone for a fairer treatment of women in the

    Read More

  • Judith Bennett Confronting Continuity Summary

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Judith Bennett’s articles titled Confronting Continuity, she stressed the importance of long-term history and how it has formed the lives of women today. In her thesis she states “There has been much change in European women’s experiences as workers over the last millennium, but very little transformation in their work status in relation to that of men” (74). In other words, women’s overall work has changed throughout history and in fact, even improved, however their relation to men has always been lesser in comparison. She describes this inferiority by titling it a “patriarchal equilibrium.” Defined, this equilibrium gives men full dominance and are expected to make decisions for the common good based on their personal ideology, culture, and society. This is the structure

    Read More

  • Women in the Workplace

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    The "glass ceiling" has held women back from certain positions and opportunities in the workplace. Women are stereotyped as part-time, lower-grade workers with limited opportunities for training and advancement because of this "glass ceiling". How have women managed their careers when confronted by this glass ceiling? It has been difficult; American women have struggled for their role in society since 1848. Women’s roles have changed significantly throughout the past centuries because of their willingness and persistence. Women have contributed to the change pace of their role in the workplace by showing motivation and perseverance.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Feminist Studies Of Men

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Critics of feminist studies of men often argue that the politics to change values and behaviour need to come from men themselves, because feminist women’s long efforts against gender discrimination, misogyny, sexual harassment, rape, battering, and male violence have often created backlash and stubborn resistance from men (Lorber, 2012, 274). If men do not fight for what they want they will not see change, it will not be handed to them as many things have already been. Although, the question presumes, why would men want to change something that they feel is just fine? This is where controversy takes place. A change must occur in order for things to be equal. Men do not always have to be the breadwinners; On the other hand, areas that seemed to indicate potential gender equality – fatherhood and men doing “women’s work” – have ironically restored gender inequality. This refers to the racialized glass escalator. Where men who do women’s work have reliable preferences in the working environment, such that even in occupations where men are numerical in minorities they are likely to enjoy higher wages and faster promotions (Lorber, 2012, p.264) In addition, men get daddy bonuses when they become fathers while women workers suffer a motherhood penalty in reduced wages (Lorber, 2012, 274). Limitations such as these reinforce gender

    Read More

  • A Historical Perspective: The Wage Gap

    1598 Words  | 4 Pages

    For several decades, most American women occupied a supportive, home oriented role within society, outside of the workplace. However, as the mid-twentieth century approached a gender role paradigm occurred. The sequence of the departure of men for war, the need to fill employment for a growing economy, a handful of critical legal cases, the Black Civil Rights movement seen and heard around the nation, all greatly influenced and demanded social change for human and women’s rights. This momentous period began a social movement known as feminism and introduced a coin phrase known in and outside of the workplace as the “wage-gap.”

    Read More

  • Women In The 70's Essay

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1960’s women were still seen as trophies and were beginning to be accepted into the work industry. They were still homemakers, raised the family, and made sure their husbands were happy. That was the social norms for women during that time period. They were not held to high work expectations like men were. But something amazing happened that would change women 's lives for centuries; it was the 1970’s. The 60’s put the equality movement in motion but 70’s was a time of reform where women were finally able to control their own paths. Not only was the 70’s a historical marker for the fiftieth anniversary for women suffrage, it was also a marker for the drastic change of different social norms, the changes of the American Dream, and the

    Read More

  • Why Women Still Can T Have It All

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most Americans would say women are still being oppressed, even if inadvertently, by society’s current structure. Women are typically paid less, put under more pressure to have a career and a family, and are often underrepresented in high profile career fields. Anne-Marie Slaughter would agree. In her essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”, she outlines the ways women are still unable to have a career and family life successfully. She especially focuses on the ways women are constantly being pressure to choose one over the other, or to try to accomplish both, and how much damage this pressure can cause. She writes, “I had been the one telling young women at my lectures that you can have it all, and do it all, regardless of what field you’re in. Which means, I had been in part, albeit unwillingly, of making millions of women feel they are to blame if they cannot manage to rise up the ladder as fast as men and, also have a family and an active home life.” (679). This passage captures the amount of pressure put on young women to commit 100% to their families and their careers simultaneously. Unfortunately, as she also points out, there will be criticism for choosing one over the other as well. Ellen Ullman also understands the pressure on women in their career fields. Her essay, How To Be A Woman Programmer, explores the difficulties for women in a male dominated field.

    Read More

  • The Women's Liberation Movement

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    As women, those of us who identify as feminists have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at what cost do these advances come with?... ... middle of paper ... ... Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/whatisfem.htm Bidgood, J. 2014, April 8 -.

    Read More

  • Communication Differences between Men and Women in the Workplace

    2289 Words  | 5 Pages

    Men have dominated the workforce for most of civilization up until their patriotic duties called away to war. All of a sudden, the women were responsible for providing for their family while the men were away. Women went to work all over America to earn an income to insure their family’s survival. Women took all sorts of jobs including assembly line positions, office jobs, and even playing professional baseball. When the men returned home from war, the women were expected to resume their place as housewives. The women who had gotten a taste of the professional life decided that they wanted to continue working. Thus, the introduction to women in a man’s working environment began. Women were not taken seriously at first, because they were stepping into a “man’s world”.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality at a Workplace

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...d women’s biological purpose has provided men a source of comparative advantage in work. It is, therefore, natural for most companies to think that women cannot be as capable as men in terms of assuming strenuous or challenging positions because women, by default, become less participative and more vulnerable when they start to have family and children. Apparently, this situation has led to various gender discriminations in the labor market.

    Read More

More about Lisa Belkin's The Opt-Out Revolution

Open Document