Fall 2010
Gender and Work
(The syllabus is a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.)
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Course prepared by: Lela Kiria
Email: lkiria@yahoo.com
Office hours:
after the class
or by appointment
Course duration
The course duration is 15 weeks that is 30 classroom hours, 16 of which will be lectures and 14 will
be seminars. Each week will consist of 2 classroom hours.
Course description
Gender and Work is a graduate level course. The main audience of this course is the first year
students of Interdisciplinary Program in Social Sciences – Gender Track. The Program is offered by
the Faculty of Social and Political Studies of Tbilisi State University and is administered by the
Centre for Social Sciences.
This course will explore what work is, paid and unpaid work, the gendered nature of work, the
devaluation of women’s work, domestic work, inequalities in the workplace, and employment equity.
It will examine the impact of political and economic reforms on women after the collapse of the
Soviet Union, unemployment as a female problem, women from paid to unpaid domestic labor,
women working outside the home for economic reasons. This course explores general division of
labor marketing in countries in transition, ideology on family and the nation, women’s reproductive
roles, women-mothers as a cornerstone of ideology in state socialist and transitional societies, from
private patriarchy to public one, the consequences of state withdrawal from public provision in
transitional societies.
This course will introduce the students to the concepts of comparable worth, hiring discrimination
against women, increasing employment among women, trends in women’s employment, which
women are employed, explanations of increases in women’s employment, the sex segregations of
jobs, the explanations of the wage gap and its consequences. The course also covers the gender issues
in management, the glass ceiling and glass walls, women’s position in the labor market in Georgia
and Eastern Europe, women in international division of labor: the gender development, counting
women’s work, the global context: internationalization, restructuring and redefinition of gender,
explaining restructuring. The course also will introduce students to feminist analyses of global
political economy.
Course objectives
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The goal of the course is to introduce students to concepts of gender relations which are imbedded,
and manifested in various aspects of paid, unpaid, formal and informal work. At the end of the course
the students will be able to
 identify gender based problems in the workplace
 analyze gendered cultures and their role in the embodiment of gender in the workplace
 identify institutional and individual attempts to manage gender in the family and in the
workplace
 articulate feminist analyses of global political economy
 identify ways that globalization produces for exploitation and empowerment for men and
women
Course Structure
Week 1-3
What work is, Paid Work, Gendered Work
Readings:
Irene Padavic, and Barbara Reskin, "Women and Men at Work," pp.1-44, Pine Forge Press, London,
2002.
Sara Ashwin and Elain Bowers. "Do Russian Women Want to Work?" pp. 21-38 in Mary Buckley.
(ed) Post-Soviet women: From the Baltic to Central Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
1997.
Barbara Einhorn, "New for Old?: Ideology, the Family and the Nation" pp. 39-73 in Cinderalla Goes
To Market. London: Verso. 1993.
Christine Williams, “Still a Man’s World, Men Who Do Women’s Work pp. 1-19, University of
California Press Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1995.
Christine L. Williams, “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female”
Professions” pp.227-241 in Michael S. Kimmel, Michael A. Messner (eds). Men’s Lives, Pearson,
Boston, New York, San Francisco.
Week 4-5
Comparable Worth, Occupational Segregation, the Wage Gap
Readings:
Paula England, 1992, Comparable Worth: Theories and Evidence. pp. 1-45. Hawthorn, NY: Aldine
DeGruyter.
Ronnie J. Steinberg, "Social Construction of Skill: Gender, Power and Comparable Worth. pp. 710721. in Kelly Weisberg, Application of Feminist Legal Theory to Women's Lives, Sex, Violence,
Work, and Reproduction. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1996
Mary Ellen Guy, Meredith A. Newman, Women’s Jobs, Men’s Jobs: Sex Segregation and Emotional
Labor, Public Administration Review, May/June 2004, Vol. 64, No.3, pp. 289-299.
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Ronnie J. Steinberg, Gender Instructions: “Cultural Lag of Gender Bias in the Hay System of Job
Evaluation,” pp.57-92. in Jerry A. Jacobs (ed). Gender Inequality at Work, SAGE Publications,
London, New Delhi, 1995.
Nan Weiner, Fair Pay pp. 126-170, in Harish C. Jain, Peter J. Sloane, Frank M. Horwitz (eds).
Employment Equity and Affirmative Action, An International Comparison, M.E. Sharpe Armonk,
New York, 2003.
Global Wage Report 2008/09, International Labour Organization, pp. 1-4, available at:
http://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm
Rosemary Wright and Jerry A. Jacobs. “Male Flight from Computer Work” pp. 334-374
in Jerry A. Jacobs (ed). Gender Inequality at Work, SAGE Publications, London, New Delhi, 1995.
Week 6-7
Domestic Work, Work-Family Conflict
Readings:
Marjorie DeVault, "Feeding the Family" pp. 35-91. University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Arlie Hochschild, " The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home" pp. 330-337. in
Skolnick and Skolnick (eds). Family In Transition. Oxford: Longman, 1997.
Rania Antonopoulos, "The Unpaid Care Work-Paid Work Connection, Working Paper No. 541. The
Levy Economics Institute, 2008, pp. 4-23, 32-40, available at: http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_541.pdf
Mikael Nordermark, Does Gender Ideology Explain Differences between Countries Regarding the
Involvement of Women and of Men in Paid and Unpaid Work? in International Journal of Social
Welfare, 2004, pp. 233-243
Irene Padavic, and Barbara Reskin, "Women and Men at Work," pp. Pine Forge Press, London,
2002. pp. 143-164.
Week 8- 9
Women's Position in the Labor Market in Georgia and Eastern Europe
Readings:
Charita Jashi, “Gender Economic Issues: The Case of Georgia” SIDA, Tbilisi 2005. pp. 72-110.
Charita Jashi, Mikheil Tokmazishvili, “Gender Discrimination in Labour Market” pp.129-140, in
Gender Dimensions of the Financial Policy of Georgia, SIDA, Tbilisi, 2009.
Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia Department for Statistics. “Women and Men in
Georgia” Tbilisi, 2008, selected pages.
Zuzanna Kiczkova and Etela Farkasova. "The Emancipation of Women: A Concept That Failed" pp.
84-94. in Nanette Funk and Magda Muller (eds). Gender Politics and Post Communism. New York,
NY: Routledge, 1993.
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Barbara Einhorn, "Right or Duty: Women and the Economy" pp. 113-146. in Cinderella Goes To
Market London: Verso. 1993.
Week 10-12
Gender Issues in Management, the Glass Ceiling, Sexual Harassment
Readings:
Kathleen Staudt. "Strategic Locations: Gender Issues in Business Management" pp. 127-139. in
Young, Samarasinghe and Kusterer (eds). Women at the Center. Kumarian Press, 1994.
Helgan, Sally, "Women's Way of Leading" pp. 181-185
Naomi Wolf. "Work" pp. 20-57. in Wolf. Beauty Myth. New York, Doubleday. 1992
Catherine A. Mackinnon, "Sexual Harassment of Working Women,"pp.25-55, New Haven, London:
Yale University Press.
Lorraine Green, Wendy Parkin, Jeff Hearn, “Power”, pp188-215, in Elisabeth Wilson, (ed)
“Organizational Behaviour Reassessed” SAGE, London 2001.
Beverly Metcalfe, Yochanan Altman “Leadership” pp.104-129 in Elisabeth Wilson, (ed)
“Organizational Behaviour Reassessed” SAGE, London 2001.
Yvonne Due Billing, Mats Alvesson, “Questioning the Notion of Feminine Leadership: A Critical
Perspective on the Gender Labeling of Leadership”, in Gender, Work and Organization, Volume 7,
No3, July 2000, pp.144-157.
Week 13-15
Gender, Work and Globalization
Readings:
Ilse Lenz, “Globalization, Gender and Work: Perspectives on Global Regulation” pp. 29-52 in Heidi
Gottfried, Laura Rees, (ed) Equity in the Workplace, Lexington Books, New York, Oxford. 2004.
Sinith Sittirak, "What Does Development Mean to her?" pp. 21-75. in Sittirak. the Daughters and
Development: Women and the Changing Environment. London: Zed Books. 1988.
Khathleen Cloud and Navy Garret.” Counting Women’s Work,” pp.12-13
Nilufer Cagatay, Korkuk Erturk, “Gender and Globalization: a Macroeconomic Perspective”
Working Paper No. 19, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2004. pp.1-65 available at:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--integration/documents/publication/wcms_079097.pdf
James Heintz, “Globalization, Economic Policy and Employment: Poverty and Gender
Implications,” International Labour Organization, 2006, pp. 33-39. Available at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/strat/download/esp2006-3.pdf
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Sriyani Mangalika Meewalaarachchi, "Importing Marginalization: Gender, Work and Globalization:
Sri Lankan Experience", in Journal for Political Theory and Research on Globalization, Development
and Gender, available at: http://www.globalizacija.com/doc_en/e0083ror.htm
Robin Cohen, Paul Kennedy, “Global Sociology,” Palgrave, London: 2007 pp. 108-109, 113-116,
459-480.
Students Evaluation Guidelines
Attendance and participation will be an important part of this class. Students are expected to arrive
on time to class and not to leave early unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor.
Please note that attendance is not voluntary; it is required.
Students are expected to do ALL the assigned readings, be able to summarize the readings and
participate in class discussions on selected readings. Students are encouraged to ask questions,
debate, and provide critical commentary on the readings and the lectures. Students are requested to
turn off their mobile phones.
Upon the completion of the course the students are required to present 8-10 page comparative essay
based on the reading materials. The essays are due in one week-time after the completion of the
course.
Grading will be based on the following:
Attendance and prepared class discussions 10%
Reaction papers
10%
In-class quiz
20%
Presentations
20%
Term paper
40%
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