Topic 4: Achievement and Motivation & Women and Work {by 10/19}
Chapters 8 and 9 – “Abilities, Achievement, & Motivation” and “Women and Work” is due this week. Like your previous post, because it is two chapters, I’ll keep it relatively simple. Address the following discussion points: (1) What did you find most interesting in Chapter 8 about achievement and motivation? (2) What did you find most interesting in Chapter 9 about sex discrimination in the workplace? Do think improvements are being made for women in the workplace? Explain your answers. Your original post should be posted by 10/19. Have your two replies no later than 10/21. *Please remember to click the “reply” button when posting a reply. This makes it easier for the reader to follow the blog postings.
Dr. Adam M Volungis 
Oct 17, 2012 @ 15:42:53
What I found most interesting about achievement and motivation was the meta-analysis that stated that there is no gender difference when it comes to mathematic ability. I know from experience that my math ability is not all that great. Growing up my father was always good at math and would always help me with my homework. This may be one of the reasons that I am also one of those individuals that always assumed that men were better at math. Even throughout high school I always made that assumption that all of my fellow male classmates were good at math. I can even go as far as to say that when I noticed that a male classmate was not good at math I found it weird.
I honestly did not find anything really surprising in the chapter about sex discrimination in the workplace. Everything that I read was something that I have heard of before. I have not personally experienced any of the sex discriminations but I have had friends and family that have and it is a very serious issue. It is currently 2012 and we should be educated enough as a society to not have these discriminations just because we are women. The same can even be said for men. For example if a man is a nurse he recieves quite a bit of grief for it because a nurse is considered a “womans” job. Saying this I do think there have been huge improvements for women in the workplace. More and more women are able to climb that ladder and beat out men in certain jobs. The only area that I still see to be an issue is the not hiring of young able women because they could potentially get pregnant and have to take time off. I can see this point of view from a business standpoint but if the woman is going to be an asset to your company why not give it a chance?
Oct 18, 2012 @ 19:50:26
I agree with the whole math subject being easier picked up by males. Most of my math classes in high school were mostly males. Even though I know a lot of girls good at math i know more boys that like/and are good at math.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 20:49:38
I like how you brought up men in the second part of your reply. I didn’t think of it before but, it really goes both ways. There might be a job that a man wants to do but is discriminated against simply because it is female dominated. It just goes to show that men and women should be able to do whatever they want to do and should be judged based on their abilites instead of their gender.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 15:14:34
I’m really bad at math too, so I can definitely relate to being one of the individual’s that assumed men were better at math. I also found it weird when one of my fellow male classmates was bad at math because of this assumption.
Oct 17, 2012 @ 19:27:53
What I find most interesting about occupational achievement in chapter 8, was that females had higher expectations of a professional occupation compared to males. Nowadays, women are taking what were previously male dominant jobs. It is becoming more and more common to find female doctors, lawyers, and engineers than it is to find them teaching or doing social work. I also find it interesting that more males are unemployed and less educated. Typically, I assumed men were just as motivated as women with becoming successful because it has usually been the males role to make more money than the wife. However, now the roles are reversing.
What I find most interesting about achievement motivation was that women are more motivated when facing relaxed conditions, whereas men are more motivated when it comes to complex tasks. Once again, I believe that this finding is not true because most women like challenges and want to prove themselves. Most men I know like to find a smarter and easier way to accomplish their task. I have never heard of any male liking complex tasks.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 20:14:13
I agree with the theory that you stated about women taking the more male dominated jobs. Today it is especially the case because women are studying more math and science when it was a stigma that males could only do math and science. Women were typically more into studying English. I am glad that women are taking a role in the more male inclined jobs. Though, I disagree with more men being unemployed than women… I feel that it is both now a days especially with the economy.
Oct 17, 2012 @ 19:34:12
The first thing that stood out to me in chapter 8 was the notion that gender differences in math performance did not stand out until around tenth grade. I have heard before that teachers can have different expectations for female students opposed to males. This could further perpetuate the stereotype that men are better at math, if teachers encourage them more and give them more support in math classes. This whole concept also made me think of gender intensification which we learned about in the previous chapter. According to this concept, tenth grade would be around the time when girls start to care more about their appearance and how people perceive them. This is also the time when males are valued more for their achievements which would make sense to why the males are enrolling in harder classes such as AP physics and math. I found it pretty disturbing that despite the fact that girls do better in school, are more well adjusted, and achieve better grades than males, they still end up with lower paying jobs as adults. This ties into the notion that many women have a lower level of achievement motivation than men. This reminded me of the discussion we had in class about women marrying for money. Traditional gender roles from the fifties and such taught us that women stayed at home and men provide the income. Knowing this stereotype even on a subconscious level, women may feel that they do not need to achieve as much since they will never be in the bread-winning position. I feel as if this could be the result of gender stereotypes in society and the fact that women experience this hinders them from achieving more, thus perpetuating the stereotype.
In the next chapter, Women and Work, I found it interesting that one stereotype of women working is that they are doing it solely to earn a little extra money, opposed to earning money to support their family. I found it scary that women still make 73 cents for every dollar that men make. This ties into the paradox stated in the previous chapter how women do better in school and still make less money than men in the workforce. One way to control for this issue is called comparable worth. This is the notion that people should be paid equally for work that is comparable in responsibility and educational requirements. It’s funny because this principle seems like it would be common sense to any employer. This seems like a practical way of helping to resolve this problem, but it is only enacted into legislation in a few states, and only in government-paid jobs. So it seems as if improvements are being made, but more has to be done since the glass ceiling still exists for women. I believe that extending parental leave would be a big way to decrease the glass ceiling for women in the USA. One big reason that women cannot excel in the workforce is the fact that a male employer may be more wary about promoting or even hiring a woman who has the possibility of becoming pregnant and leaving the workforce. If the government provided better child care that was less expensive, more women would not feel inclined to stay home with their children instead of going to work everyday. According to the text, there needs to be both public and private change in order to create “social stability”.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 23:04:56
I also found it interesting that there was a stereotype of women only working to earn a little extra money. I feel like this might have been true back in the day when most women were stay at home moms and men were the breadwinners, however, I feel like today this is not as true. More women are working for financial reasons and personal reasons. Also, more men are becoming stay at home dads and moms are taking the role as the breadwinner, so I do not think that this stereotype applies anymore.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 14:22:57
I agree that there is a stereotype that women only work to earn a little extra spending cash for their familes. This was very true back in the 1950’s when men were the breadwinners for the family. In thsi day in age women are very much career women and work to have successful careers and not to just have some extra money.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 17:24:32
I also found it interesting that the stereotype of women working is for earning a little money. I also agree that most women back in the day were stay at home moms who raised and took care of the children. Nowadays, more women are working because they want to have a successful career or in some cases certain families need two incomes in which the mom has to work. This stereotype is no longer in place since women work because they enjoy the job they are doing.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 17:16:17
I agree, I also feel like today most women are forming careers and not just side jobs to have a little “extra cash”. Today you see a lot more women being the main providers and more and more stay at home fathers.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 10:09:38
It must be very frustrating for women in the workplace to be discriminated against because they may in the future decide to have children. Having children and a family is a part of life and most employers do not look at it that way. They see it as an inconvenience and would rather hire someone, such as a male, that will not have to take maternity leave. It’s also unfair that men are rarely granted paternity leave, although it is becoming more common. I believe men should take on 50% of the responsibility for taking care of a child. Also, if there was an equal distribution of paternity and maternity leave, there wouldn’t be as much discrimination against women who are trying to get a job because everyone who has a child is eligible for maternity/paternity leave.
Oct 17, 2012 @ 19:49:54
What I found most interesting about sex discrimination in the workplace was the topic about luck vs. skill or ability between women and men This is very discriminating because many females are successful due to their great abilities. Not all women are lucky and not all males are skilled. It is hard to say that women succeed because of luck or some other causes. Clearly, they need to have specific abilities that made them qualify for their particular occupation.
Oh wait, I did not notice that was chapter 8, but it is still related to sex discrimination in the workplace. I did find that pay equity was rather strange. I had no idea that women were paid less than men, nowadays, because more females are getting a college degree and working better jobs.
Improvements are being made by women in the workplace. Like mentioned in chapter 8, most women today are working more than men and have high paying, high skilled jobs. The gender stereotype between males and females in the workplace is decreasing and the typical male dominant jobs are being overtaken by women. When a women is interviewed for a job, the employer is simply looking for a person who knows what to do and how to do it efficiently. I do not think sex discrimination in the workplace is half as bad as it once was.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 11:04:19
What I found most interesting about achievement was that at all grade levels, girls consistently get better grades than boys. Girls are also more likely to be accelerated and promoted and are less likely to repeat a grade. In our society, women earn 80% of what their male coworkers are making. Although girls’ school progress is superior to that of boys, there is an unfair gender gap in the career field. I believe this is due to the gender roles society expects of women. Women are expected to stay at home, cook, and take care of the children while the men work and provide for the family. I also believe that men assume women are less aggressive and more emotional and are therefore unfit to take leadership roles at work. It’s unfortunate that women show so much potential even at a young age and are still barred from achieving the same status as men. However, I believe society is beginning to change and becoming more accepting so hopefully, women will see a change in the work force.
What I found most interesting about sex discrimination in the workplace is that research shows that managers, half men and half women, are more likely to select a man than a woman for an important assignment. One reason for doing so is because they believe customers prefer to deal with men rather than women. It’s interesting that half of the managers asked were women and even they said they are more likely to choose a male for a task. I am unsure whether this is due to the common notion that men are more capable in the work field or if this is actually the case. In my own experience, I prefer to speak with a female employee when at a store because it’s easier to relate. However, I can see why customers may feel more comfortable with a male employee because they are frequently believed to be the more proficient sex at work.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 19:48:12
I agree with the last part of your reply, discrimination against women in the workforce isn’t half as bad as it used it be and it has become more acceptable.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 20:44:36
I agree with what you had to say about chapter 8. I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t really make sense that women excell in school but are still discriminated against in the workplace. I’m surprised that this is still a problem. Women have definitely proven that they have the ability and drive to do well in the workplace. I think that it will just take time for false stereotypes to be forgotten and/or ignored.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 23:09:47
I also found it interesting that men are more likely to be selected over women for an important task. In my own experience, I have found it to be the opposite. I work at a grocery store, and when my male manager selects people to do important things around the store, he usually picks women. Also, most of the cashiers at my store are female, and it seems that customers relate better with females rather than males. Therefore, I found it interesting that men are usually selected over women, because I have not experienced this.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 14:06:37
I feel as if I can relate to this. In some of my past work and academic experiences, females have been relied upon more for important tasks, especially involving responsibility. I think this may be true for when we are younger opposed to scenarios in the workplace. Since girls mature faster than boys I think it would, in a way, make sense for employers, teachers or other authority figures to entrust important tasks to a female. Since this clearly changes when we reach adulthood and out in the workforce I can see why it would be a stereotype that men are given more important tasks. Since men dominate the higher positions it would also make sense that they are giving other important tasks to those of the same gender.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 16:20:50
I also work in a grocery store and when I first started working there only girls were cashiers and the boys were the baggers and brought in the carriages. Now that years have gone by I have noticed a big switch in this because more boys are being trained as cashier and vise versa. I have noticed these changes but never put much thought into it but I can now see how important it is to incorporate both males and females in all jobs.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 14:27:06
I can see from a business standpoint when men would get hired more than women. This is because men are not going to cost the company money when they have to leave to have a child. But this is not fair to women because if women are capable of doing their job why discriminate against them jsut because they are a woman and want ot also start familes? Not all women are looking to have children so if a company did not hire because the individual was a woman they would look silly becuase they lost a great employee because they made an assumption.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 17:15:55
In chapter 8, I found it interesting that the book reported on how more girls are advancing in math and sciences today than years ago. I agree with the book on how women are underrepresented in these fields but meta-analyses have shown the women have as much mathematical ability as men do. Since more women attend college/universities statically, there will be more of them interested in math and sciences. As a biology major I can say that in the natural science department there are more female professors than male professors. I also think nowadays women are starting to take on careers which were normally geared towards males such as engineering and becoming s scientist.
In chapter 9, I found it interesting how if a man and women are both applying for the same job and have the same educational background, the male are more likely to get the job. I understand that some companies take into consideration that women take maternity leave and how the male would be a better fit for the company. I have never thought of it this way and didn’t think gender would play a big role in getting a job. There has been a lot of discrimination towards women who are working but it has improved. A lot of women are now able to climb the ladder and have bigger job titles. However, I think people are sometimes stocked to hear that the CEO of a company is a woman rather than a man. I feel that women can be just as successful in their careers as men. Many jobs are also segregated by gender. Nurses and dental hygienists are mostly female dominated careers; nowadays you see a good number of male nurses too, however it probably takes them more time to be accepted as a nurse. I think the same would be true for a female mechanic to be accepted by other male mechanics.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 14:41:11
I agree with you about the notion of jobs being segregated by gender. This reminds me of the joke about the female doctor that we went over in class a few weeks ago. Since women are not stereotypically CEO, I can understand why some people may think they just got to that position with luck. There is also the perspective of the “talking platypus” in which women are actually overvalued for their high position or rank simply because they are female. I think today these stereotypes definitely still exist but they are few and further between due to factors such as changing family structures and education. Since women are more educated today than say twenty years ago, they are being employed in higher positions. There is also the whole “stay at home dad” concept where women are the bread-winners and husbands are the parents who are staying at home.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 10:12:52
I think society is advancing in terms of being more open and accepting of women’s abilities. Before, there weren’t studies to show women’s abilities in math and sciences so the stereotype continued that men are better in the math and sciences than women. Now, there is documented proof that women are just as capable, if not more capable, than men in those areas. Because this research exists, I believe we will start to see the gender gap in the work place close more and more. It will take time until women are on an equal playing field as men but I do believe we are headed in the right direction.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 15:10:13
I think it’s interesting that more of your professors are females rather than men because I’ve always assumed that most math/science professors were mostly men probably due to the stereotype that men are better in those subjects. But I definitely agree that more women today are taking on careers that normally were geared towards men.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 18:08:10
What I found to be most interesting about chapter 8 was the motive to avoid success theory… it states that people will hypothesize a fear of success that will lead to people avoiding being successful. It sounds silly, when you think about it, really. However, Matina Horner coined this term and said that women were found to portray such a thought. These women were in fact very bright and intelligent. Horner wanted to understand the gender differences pertaining to achievement and motivation. She observed situations that involved test taking. She learned that females were more anxiety taken than males when taking a test. She created a study in which the participants would complete a story that started a certain way. Females wrote the story about Anne (code name) and males wrote about John (another code name) When the participants finished writing their stories, the results were quite different when comparing males and females. When reading the males stories, the results showed that they wrote more about happiness and feelings of satisfaction with over achievement. The girls wrote more about feelings of rejection, worries about maintaining womanhood and denied them gaining any success. The conclusion of each gender was quite interesting to me because females views were more negative whereas males were more optimistic. Horner’s results said that 65% of females at the University of Michigan (sample) were extensively higher than males (of fewer than 10%) that essentially fell into one of these categories. This experiment makes me wonder why females are more inclined towards avoiding being successful. I believe it to mean that everyone has worries and fears, we are only human. However, we can’t let our fear take over our mind. Our mind is a powerful thing that can essentially make or break us. That’s the way I see it. Once we feed our mind with negativity, it strays us away from our goals.
What I found to be most interesting about chapter 9 what the part about the glass ceiling or a labyrinth. The text talks about a glass ceiling being “invisible” barriers to the promotion of women and ethnic minorities into upper management and executive levels. Women will be promoted to advance in a company up to a certain point, then they seem to fall to a barrier or “ceiling” that stops them from going further in the company. Some women do make it to the upper levels of management, but they cannot seem to break through the barrier for whatever reason. There has been some evidence to see the percentage of males and females in a company in terms of who steps up the ladder and who does not. Women were seen as fewer than 1% in terms of being a CEO of a company. The text says that if there are few women in the company and women of color, the “glass ceiling” term comes about. Studies have found that women show a resistance when accepting discriminatory treatment and therefore take steps that help to resist it. Women would move to a company that had a more suitable environment for them or they started their own business. This is why I particularly liked this section of chapter 9 because it shows the active persistence of women when trying very hard to make it on their own. Women are VERY much capable of starting their own business just as much as men are. Pushing all of the stigmas and stereotypes aside, women can do what they put their mind to. It is definitely a working world for women. I have a conversation with a friend last night about how more women are independent today and do not depend on men as much as in the past. Women go to school, come out with a bachelor’s degree and maybe a masters, find a job in their field, and make money on their own. Women are quite independent and I am all for that. I believe that no man should support me. Though that is until I am married and have children… even them it will be a team effort.
I believe that improvements are being made in terms of more women are becoming independent and therefore starting to take initiative for themselves in starting their own business. Women are also in more managerial positions which is great. I am happy to say this because I am part the generation in which this is taking place. I want to be a working women and make money on my own until I have a husband and children. I still want to work, but also be there for my children. I have always been fortunate that my mother could be a stay at home mom, and I do not know any different. Though, today, the economy is tough, as we all know. The husband and wife, or a non-married couple who lived together have to make a team effort in supporting themselves and as a family.
However, I feel as if there is no recent improvement in hiring women in terms of physical attractiveness and the way the body looks. When we talked about this in our class, I wanted to mention how at the restaurant Toby Keiths I love this Bar and Grille, the women who work HAVE to wear cowgirl boots, short shorts, and tank tops that are revealing of the chest area. I know a girl who works there who gets constantly hit on by older and younger men. One man cornered her. She still continues to work there and face this. It is not right. There are body guards who work there just because of this situation…
Oct 21, 2012 @ 19:39:31
Hey, Gina, I really like what you had to say!
I want to be a working-woman as well! I think it’s essential that a woman is able to take care of herself financially. I think even when married it’s important, because one never knows. That is crazy they have body-guards to watch-out-for of the female employees; I think it’s good they’re there, but perhaps if they didn’t have the pressure of wearing the revealing outfit, they wouldn’t get seen as objects, and therefore not be hit on as much? Yikes.
Oct 23, 2012 @ 11:51:23
Thank you! Yes, it is crazy the outfits that they wear… if only they were a little less revealing…
Oct 18, 2012 @ 19:46:35
What I found most interesting in Chapter 8. was the section about the Physical Performance and Athletics. I found this interesting because it says that the larger gender differences in athletic performance tend to emerge in adolescence, I would think the larger differences would be once men and women are fully developed not when they are younger.
The most interesting section I came across in Chapter 9 was the stereotypes about women at work. I found this interesting because stereotype 1 states that most women are stereotyped to only working for a little bit of extra money or are the second income of the family. Most of the time I came across families, I would , follow that stereotype unintentionally, assuming the husband made most of the money. Most movies also follow stereotype 1. I do believe improvements are being made in the workforce for women. Over time more women are becoming powerful and taking on important roles in our society, not just basic jobs. There are still stereotypes however about working women and discrimination but it has gotten more acceptable for women to have major roles in the workforce.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 16:18:29
I agree that when I was growing up I always assumed the husband in the families were the ones who paid for the meals and made more money. When I first started cashiering I would have couples come through my lines and sometimes the wife or the girl would pay for the food and I found it so weird. I always thought to myself what type of guy can’t pay for the food or something’s wrong in this relationship but now that I’m older I realize it is not that taboo and many couples do not follow that stereotype.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 20:19:02
I can definitely see that a lot of movies from today portray stereotype one, being that women only work for a little bit of extra money. Though today, women are becoming more powerful and earning money for themselves and for the family. I also wrote in my post that women are strongly becoming independent today and making careers for their own and living on their own, before getting boysfriends/married.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 14:07:22
I agree with the previous comment and your as well Gina. I also see this as becoming more normal. I feel like before women were very dependent on men bring in the main income but now I see women becoming successful and making a living for herself before committing herself to another person.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 20:40:01
What I found most surprising in chapter 8 were the four types of attribution for a woman’s success: Ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty. I am surprised that there is even a study on this at all. I don’t think that a woman’s success should be this deeply questioned. It makes me wonder if people think that woman are only successful due to external forces. For task difficulty, I think that if a particular task does come easy to a woman (or anyone) you could argue that it was easy because she has the ability or put in enough effort to make it come easy.
For luck, I personally don’t think that should even be an attribution. I really don’t think accomplishing tasks has anything to do with luck.
Chapter 9 made me think a lot about my sister. She is currently a junior at WPI. She is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in fire protection. There was a time when engineering was so male dominated that WPI was an all boys school. Obviously, times have changed. However, since she is a girl, she has not been able to pursue all of the same opportunities that a male student would have. She was turned down for an intership not because of her abilities but because of the fear that she would be treated unfairly in the workplace because of her gender. Basically, she couldn’t work at this place because the boss was afraid all the male employees would hit on her. This is just one of the examples that woman have to face in the workplace today.
What surprised me most in chapter 9 were the scarcity and expansionist hypotheses. I personally feel really good after I work an eighteen hour day and have all my homework done. However, that work load takes a lot of effort. Eventually, the lack of sleep always catches up to me. I think that people can get their body used to a certain type of schedule and work load but resting and sleep are still essential.
Oct 20, 2012 @ 12:31:22
Morgan,
I agree with you in that it’s wierd that the authors spoke of a study where a woman’s success could only be attributed to four things; luck, effort, ability, and task difficulty. This struck me as odd when I read it as well, but what else would you add to it? Effort accounts for how hard working a women may or may not be and her effort or motivation to succeed. Ability accounts for her performance, which would be directl tied to how much effort she previousl put into aquiring a certain set of skill. Task difficuly could account for any physicalities of a job or any potential stereotypes she may have to overcome. And finall, luck accounts for any ties or links she might already have in the field she seeks.
Although I agree that it seems odd to attribute a woman’s success solely to four things, but they did not specify attributing a man’s success to any more than four. I think the four the study covered in the chapter discussed do not make women seem less competent.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 13:57:51
I fiond this comment about your sister very interesting and sadly true. I feel that engineering is said to be a “male” job and when a woman says that is what she is going to school for people look at her weird. However as the movie in class suggested women should go into that type of field more because they make more money and I feel they can save that money and afford to take time off to have a family.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 19:48:38
I think it’s interesting that women’s success is being questioned so deeply, too! I don’t believe in “luck.” There’s a quote I like it goes “I never dreamed of success. I worked for it,” and I think it correlates nicely with what you had to say. That is a good example of what your sister is going through. That is really too bad she is going through that. I hope it works out for her; she sounds smart and like she deserves to be there.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 21:13:11
The most interesting thing that I read in chapter 8 was when the authors were talking about “motive to avoid success”. The authors talk about the differences in how men and women ended “success” stories. Males generally ended with happiness and positive feelings whereas the womens repsonses were incredibly odd and not typically good. The book, for example, states a typical answer by women, “Anne starts proclaiming her surprise and joy. Her fellow classmates are so disgusted with her behavoir that they jump on her in a body and beat her. She is maimed for life.” I wonder if this made it to publication because of how bizarre it is or if violence like this was really a common response. I would like to know which areas and regions this kind of response popped up in most; violent ones?
The most interesting thing I read in chapter 9 was when the authors talked about the scarcity and expansionist hypothesis. If the two were not juxtiposed, both would seem logical – not one more than the other it seems; but when put together, one after another, it is hard to distinguish which is more realistic. To me, it seems to make the most sense that the more obligations and responsibilities you take on, the more stress you take on as well. At the same time, however, it also seems person-dependent. For example, some people are more than content sitting around in minimal activity all day, whereas others would go crazy with the same empty plate. Some people get stressed with boredom and are comfortable in chaos. I think you could make an arguement to prove both hypostheses dependent on the arguer.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 22:49:19
What I found most interesting in Chapter 8 was how girls excel more than boys in school achievement. Girls consistently get better grades than boys, and girls less frequently have to repeat a grade. They also are more frequently accelerated and promoted within the school system. I thought this was interesting because research also shows that men are more likely to succeed in the workforce. It is interesting to put both these researches together because if you found out that girls excel higher in academics than boys, you would think that they would also surpass them in the workforce. However, this is just the opposite. You would think since boys usually do worse than girls in school achievement, they would not perform better in the workforce. I also found that there is no gender difference in mathematics ability interesting. A lot of people today say that males are better than females at math, so it was interesting to find that the meta-analysis showed no gender difference; and that females scored just as high as males.
What I found most interesting in Chapter 9 was the glass ceiling and labyrinth phenomenon. The glass ceiling refers to women advancing within their company up to a certain point, and then not being able to rise any further. They can see where they want to be, however, they just cannot get there. In one survey, 58% of women stated that they experienced the glass ceiling effect currently or in previous jobs they held. What was most interesting was that data showed that corporations with more women at the top typically perform better than other corporations. I think that companies should take this into consideration and realize that they should promote more women at the top of their company so that their company will perform better. Fortunately, today fewer women are experiencing the glass ceiling effect.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 12:33:06
In chapter 8, reading about attributions and women most interested me. I don’t think that when women achieve something great people see it as a streak of luck. I think women’s efforts, ability, and achievements of greatness are undervalued, and overlooked, so that when a woman does achieve something great people look at it like, “wow, she must have worked really hard.” I believe women are more likely than men to correlate their success with external causes because women for several reasons; women tend to be more humble, and realize that although they themselves achieved the success, they most likely appreciate that they achieved it with help from attributions outside of themselves. I, for example, didn’t earn the best grades in highschool, but when I moved to Rhode Island for college, things seriously began to change, and I did really well. I, of course internally changed and matured, but I also met my best friends whom value academia and studied with me and supported me, and I was put into a new environment, etc. So, my internal factors changed for the better once my external factors changed for the better!!! I think what was most interesting in chapter 9 is this notion of “The Platypus Effect.” I was interested in this and did some outside reading, and it basically suggests that a certain level of success is expected of an individual, or groups, such as males and females. Level of anticipated success may be perceived as lower than men; I take that as when females reach a high level of success people are somewhat surprised, and therefore overemphasize and celebrate the females success, perhaps because they didn’t expect her to go so far, or because it is the norm to see men reaching high levels of success (operational definition – income earned by female, and high position in job – ex., CEO).
Oct 20, 2012 @ 12:35:23
Morgan,
I think you worded this perfect and I agree with you that it’s not always necessarily that men are more successful, but that they tend to put it on display more, as you said, women tend to be more humble in discussing their successful endeavors. Gender differences are so interesting.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 17:22:51
Morgan,
I agree with what your saying that women’s achievements “undervalued” and “overlooked”. It is sad to think that women’s success is looked at as luck instead of hard work. Women are a lot more humble with their success I think because when a women is confident it is more frowned upon than when a man is.
Oct 19, 2012 @ 16:15:34
In Chapter 8 I found it interesting that studies show how girls do better in school than boys do. They get better grades and adjust much easier with school than boys do. We are often told that boys are better in math and science classes than girls do yet girls are the ones getting the higher grades. The problem with this is that there is still a stereotype that boys do better than girls in school since that is how it has been for so long. Also, when girls do well in a class or an exam they tend to shy away from telling others of their success and internalize it where as boys are eager to brag about their good grades. Even though there are differences between grades studies show that there is not much difference in boys’ and girls’ IQs. There is also a motive to avoid success for women, where they fear being successful because they think they will be socially rejected. I also never thought about how we think we got our good grades or promotions. In this chapter we saw how some people think women get to where they are through luck while others truly believe it is through their hard work. I myself have actually thought about this before but I never realized it.
In Chapter 9 I found it interesting how women are getting paid less than men and are also getting promoted much less. I have heard about how women are getting paid less in the media such as Walmart but never thought it was done everywhere. Since I am not surrounded by this much I never put much thought into it. I believe men and women should get paid and promoted for their success not based on their sex. Women work just as hard and many times more than men do especially when they have to come home and take care of their children so they should get treated with as much respect. Growing up I have seen a lot of stereotyping about which sex what work. Such as women tend to be nurses while males take on the engineering jobs. I never had anyone tell me to try to become an engineer so I always seemed to think that males do certain jobs and females do the others. It is great to see the big change in the job fields where more women are going out and taking on these male dominated jobs and men aren’t scared to be nurses.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 14:02:35
The most interesting part of chapter 8 was when the book talked about women’s successes to be lucky. I do not think that a women is successful because of luck I feel that they are just ore humble about their accomplishments. Just like any other person succession takes skill and effort and without any of these qualities success is a fail. I think the reason people see women as being lucky is because whenever someone congratulates a woman they always respond with oh it is no big deal or thanks it was luck or something. Even though women are hard workers they want their successions to seem easy or not make a big deal about it.
The most interesting part of Ch. 9 was the “male” jobs verses the “women” jobs. I feel that no matter the gender if you are happy with your career you should be able to do whatever you want. I also found it interesting that girls get paid lower than men. I feel that can be true but I also feel women can become very successful. As the movie stated in class it was interesting that the reason a women made less was because they took off time for maternity leave or the “women” jobs are catered more towards women. You see many women going into education or become a nurse or social worker. By default they make less money than an engineer or a surgeon or something. So I also found these statistics to be interesting.
Oct 21, 2012 @ 17:26:58
I also agree with you and think that women are not successful because of their luck. Women work just as hard as men and deserve to get the job they applied for based on their effort and hard work. Since women don’t brag as such and stay humble when promoted, people look at this as oh maybe it was her luck that got her promoted. I also feel that women have to work harder than men in certain jobs to be noticed or promoted by their boss which isn’t right but happens in certain companies.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 15:00:13
What I found most interesting in Chapter 8 was achievement in the school system. Research shows that girls consistently receive better grades than boys overall. Girls are also more likely to be promoted or accelerate during their school years rather than boys. This interested me because this research should directly correlate with girls being more successful in the workforce, but it doesn’t. Studies show that men are more likely to succeed in the workforce and make more money than women. I think there still is a lot of gender discrimination in the workforce that may be contributing to this study. For example, woman are seen stereotypically as being emotional which means they’re overlooked for leadership positions.
While reading chapter 9 I found it really interesting that if both a woman and man are applying for a certain job and have the same educational background the man is more likely to land the job. While a woman is being considered for a job position things such as maternity leave is considered, where as obviously men don’t have that setback. I’ve never even thought that maternity leave was a factor in hiring someone for a position. I don’t think its fair because that doesn’t lessen a woman’s chance to be successful in the workplace. This shows that there is definitely still discrimination against woman in the workplace.
Oct 22, 2012 @ 17:06:46
In chapter 8 what I found most interesting was the section about school achievement and how it compared to occupational achievement. It was somewhat surprising to me that at all grades girls get higher grades than boys because growing up there was always the serotype that boys excel in school more than girls do mostly in math and science. Although it shows that girls do better in school it does not continue on to achievement motivation. Research shows that females have a lower achievement motivation than males do. I think a lot of this has with the points they make in chapter 9. Studies show that for every dollar a man is making, a woman is making seventy-five cents. This is because women aren’t going for those higher paying jobs because of the serotypes society has today where women should only would in the fields with lower salaries such as secretaries and administrative assistants, teaching positions, nursing, social work etc. Also when hiring, a male would generally get hired over a female to do assumptions that the women may become pregnant or assume to be more too emotional for such a demanding job. Studies have also shown that it can be difficult for women to assume and be recognized in a leadership role. Its disappointing to see that today women still can’t be taken seriously when in a role superior to men that are working under them.
Oct 23, 2012 @ 23:24:39
In chapter 8, I found it most interesting when the textbook started to talk about women’s succes and how success is attributed to women in comparison to men. The book elaborated on how the success of women is never really recognized and often attributed to some sort of assisted success. Overall succes achieved by women is often swept under the rug and taken for granted just like in the case of scholastic success. Grades among boys and girls tend to show a higher average among women; especially in the areas of math and science. The stereotypes that are often presented to the populous is often wrong and it is evident on the case of both men and women, particularly in the areas of academic and workplace success. However, i do believe strides are being made in place for both men and women. Even though it might be considered out of the norm to actually see a female CEO, the options are not off the table, in fact the options are only increasing as time goes by.
In chapter 9, what I found most interesting was the fact that regardless of whether both men and women share similar academic backgrounds, women are still payed some 50 cents less than man. It wasn’t the numbers that astonished me, it was the fact that despite todays social strides, we still face obstacles such as these in the workplace. Women, like me, are able to carry out jobs just as efficiently , if not better. if we elude back to chapter 8 we understand women to score higher on math and science tests so why not pay them just the same?, especially in those fields.