Abstract
Gender roles. What does it mean for women in today’s workplace? Mohamad Alkadry and Leslie Tower waste no time in tackling this issue, as it pertains to women in public service, brilliantly addressing the social costs to women, families, organizations, and society. The book reflects extensive research on workplace diversity issues, advancing feminist scholarship by highlighting those issues where power and oppression intersect to negatively impact the lives of women and other minority groups. The authors inspire us to reflect on the unconscious biases that both men and women hold in gender role expectations in the workplace, thus enabling us to reflect on our own individual roles in the process. The fact that the authors represent both genders makes their unifying argument more compelling.
Alkadry and Tower cleverly introduce readers to the topic of gender roles by discussing the plight of a male city commissioner, who, as a new father faced with the task of changing his child’s diaper, suddenly realized that men’s and women’s restrooms differ where children are concerned. Diaper-changing stations exist in women’s rooms but not in men’s for the sole reason that this task is relegated primarily to women. The reader is quickly drawn to the gender inequity and the social construction of gender roles, not only in family responsibilities but in the broader reach of society, visible even in building construction in that designs for men’s and women’s facilities are based on the understanding of what the authors term “need to have” items in women’s facilities versus “nice to have” items in men’s facilities. The reader comes away with a view of the power imbalance in the workplace in that this topic came to light only when it had an impact on a man of power.
The book’s basic premise is that women must be given equal opportunities with men in the workplace, in hiring, in pay, in behaviors, attitudes, and expectations. This discussion begins by introducing the concepts of passive and active representation, highlighting the inequities in gender roles used to relegate women to more subordinate positions, giving them more of a passive representation that satisfies organizational quotas, rather than an active representation that ensure women a seat at the table where policy decisions are made and implemented. The authors acknowledge some movement in this area but also highlight instances where this issue lags behind.
The book moves from broader issues such as legislation and governmental policies that attempt to promote fairness to women and other oppressed groups, to narrower day-to-day implementation of workplace policies that sometimes force women to make choices between family and workplace responsibilities often detrimental to their careers. Each chapter discusses a topic pertinent to parity in the workplace, ending with a discussion of “barriers, challenges, and opportunities” relevant to the topic and a list of key terms. This layout allows for ease in locating information specific to issues of concern, making the book a good resource for educators, students, researchers, and those interested in key legislation and policies around workplace diversity issues. Organizational leaders may also find it useful in creating workplace policies.
While promoted as a resource for public administration and public service human resources, this book is an excellent complementary text for social work courses in policy and macro practice. This is a must-read for feminist scholars and those who believe in equality and fairness for women. Alkadry and Tower brilliantly help us to connect the social cost of gender roles to women and the associated costs to families and organizations.