“The Future of Women and Work” Article Critique Essay

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The article The Future of Women and Work: Ending the Twentieth Century written by Joan Acker presents the effect of a global, capitalist restructuring of the corporate economy on the lives of American women. The article investigates the growth of women’s job opportunities in the restructured corporate world, given that there has been increased flexibility of work, changing skill requirements for jobs, and management’s effort to implement flat organizations to increase participation of employees. The article tries to establish a trend for the future of women’s employability and the nature of their work in corporate America once it undergoes a restructuring.

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The author says that with the feminization of the workforce even male-oriented jobs are becoming feminized. With restructuring, there is a trend of old skilled jobs becoming redundant, and so there are new jobs available for a fewer wage. That is why women have taken active participation in the workforce: “The family wage sufficient for a single worker to support dependents is fast disappearing; women’s paid work is becoming necessary for family survival” (Acker, p. 54). A positive view presented is that technological advancement, which creates a new model of production, and thus higher productivity.

The article identifies that women have to take a cut in wages as welfare options for women such as, “day care, to mandatory maternity leave, and to other forms of family leave that support women’s labor-market participation are consistent with this mode of thinking, as are attacks on existing welfare state provisions” (Acker, p. 56). Then the author went on to explain the world for women post-corporate restructuring. Due to this, there has been a decline in gender inequality in the workforce as well as a wage gap. But still, most of the women are in the low-wage “women’s jobs”. Thus, the effect of restructuring can be stated as “the restructuring of employment, changing skill demands, increasing flexibility, and the reduction of hierarchy along with greater employee participation” (Acker, p. 56).

With restructuring, the foremost thing that came was budget slashing, as well as layoffs in the services sector, has affected women adversely as “Women hold the majority of service-sector jobs and most of their job growth has been in this area” (Acker, p. 60). This has also affected the promotional opportunities of women. Further decline in the top management and entry-level jobs have also declined which will lead to a “decrease in entry-level management jobs” (Acker, p. 60).

The structural inequalities that have arisen are mainly due to the technology-oriented nature of the workforce which has led to further job cuts and women’s jobs increasingly becoming “routine, low-wage, highly controlled work and non-routine, relatively autonomous, higher-wage jobs” (Acker, p. 62) this has led to inequality in wages of men and women. Flexible working hours are an essential part of a corporate restructuring which has led to part-time jobs which is beneficial for women but gives lower wages.

With the flattening of the organizational structure, corporate are increasingly trying to reduce the middle-management, which has reduced the requirement of fresh new entrants. So as women have entered the workforce much later than men, they face the disadvantage of late entry.

The author argues that with increasing corporate restructuring, women’s job opportunity is expected to decline. This indicates that there has been an increase in the employment of women in management positions (US. Department of Labor). This shows that the idea posed by the author is not completely correct. So we may say that corporate restructuring has not painted the picture that Acker has visualized.

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References

  1. Acker, Joan. “The Future of Women and Work: Ending the Twentieth Century.” Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 35, No. 1 (1992): 53-68.
  2. US. Department of Labor. “” 2008. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web.
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""The Future of Women and Work" Article Critique." IvyPanda, 18 Oct. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-future-of-women-and-work-article-critique/.

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IvyPanda. (2021) '"The Future of Women and Work" Article Critique'. 18 October.

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IvyPanda. 2021. ""The Future of Women and Work" Article Critique." October 18, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-future-of-women-and-work-article-critique/.

1. IvyPanda. ""The Future of Women and Work" Article Critique." October 18, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-future-of-women-and-work-article-critique/.


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IvyPanda. ""The Future of Women and Work" Article Critique." October 18, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-future-of-women-and-work-article-critique/.

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