Women's domain
Areas of society are described as women's domains that are almost exclusively shaped or influenced by women , or in which predominantly women are active. The term mostly refers to the world of work , which in this context can also include unpaid family work.
The term is mainly used in the description of social systems and in gender research. Areas that are almost exclusively dominated by men are called men's domains .
Women's domains in fields of work
It is typical for women's domains that they cover certain sectors of employment , have a certain and usually lower scope of work or are paid less than comparable work. Another characteristic of the women's domains can be that they are limited to the lower hierarchical levels, while the authorized employees within the professional group are usually men. One example is care for the elderly , in which the majority of the nursing staff is female, while the nursing service management and the home management have a significantly higher proportion of men than the lower levels.
In the last few decades there has been a dominance of female teachers in elementary schools. Although women mostly take on the management positions here , sociologists and gender and men's research identify a growing problem due to the lack of identification images for boys.
Scope of work
The part-time work is considered classic women's domain, and this particular married and widowed women are concerned, of whom are in employment with reduced hours over 50%. For women with children, the proportion is even higher at 60%. Here, this smaller amount of work is used specifically to be able to combine work and family . This must be distinguished from involuntary part-time work, as occurs, for example, in eastern Germany due to a lack of full-time positions on offer.
working area
A typical feature of women's domains can be found in the gender-specific distribution of career choices and occupations.
Certain occupational groups and areas of work are almost exclusively carried out by women. This includes large parts of the service sector such as the hairdressing trade , retail trade , healing and education professions and almost the entire spectrum of birth assistance , child nursing and care . The focus here is on those areas that are originally suggested to women from the area of unpaid family work, for example caring for children and the elderly, but also professions that deal with topics historically considered female, such as the tailor or beautician . In the field of academic education, the overlap between male and female roles has become stronger, but subjects such as nutrition and social education are considered female, while agricultural engineering and nautical science , for example, are still considered male subjects.
There is a clear connection between women remaining in the tertiary labor sector, the service sector and the option that is often possible there, for example to switch to part-time work because of raising children, and this is also an explanation for the occupation of the lower positions Levels of hierarchy with women who either take a family break, which affects their career, or who tend to forego full employment necessary for advancement in favor of unpaid family work due to lower earnings. In addition, there is often the traditional belief that work is in principle more important for men than for women, which is why they can do without a promising career or are more likely to be terminated in times of low work.
The proportion of women in IT professions differs greatly from country to country.
Women's domains in non-professional areas
In addition to the fields of work, the colloquial language also knows so-called women's domains in voluntary activities and leisure activities. These include textile handicrafts , some types of music (e.g. flute and harp playing ) or, in sports, figure skating and riding - in contrast to classic male domains such as model making, trumpet or football.
Another area in which the domains of women are spoken of are, for example, addictions , which occur more frequently in women than in men, such as drug addiction or borderline personality disorder .
literature
- Daniela Rastetter: Sexuality and rule in organizations: A gender comparative analysis , Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994, ISBN 3531126040
- Barbara Thiessen: Re-formulation of the private: professionalization of personal, household-related service work , VS Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3531144022
- Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Heather Anne Hofmeister: Globalization, Uncertainty And Women's Careers , Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1845426649
- Nanneke Redclift, M. Thea Sinclair: Working Women: International Perspectives on Labor and Gender Ideology , Routledge, 1991, ISBN 0415018439
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Stefan Hradil: Social inequality in Germany. VS Verlag, 8th edition, page 193f., ISBN 3810030007
- ^ Rudolf Tippelt: Handbuch Bildungsforschung. , VS Verlag, 2002, page 413, ISBN 3810031968
- ↑ Wiltrud Gieseke : Handbook on women's education. VS Verlag, 2001, page 125f., ISBN 3810026514
- ↑ Cf. Claudia Born, Helga Krüger: Individualization and Entanglement: Gender and Generation in the German Life Course Regime. , Juventa, 2001, page 128, ISBN 3779910845