The Face of Discrimination by Roscigno Vincent J.;

Author:Roscigno, Vincent J.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1351163
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2013-06-25T00:00:00+00:00

Discrimination against Women and Racial Variations

Women traditionally find work in female-dominated occupations, and they tend to work in part-time jobs more often than men. Whether or not these differences can be explained by human capital differences or discrimination is subject to dispute. We know that men have a labor market advantage over women generally, but do white women have an advantage over black women? And, if so, does this pattern play out in terms of the types of discrimination that black and white women experience?

In 1990, almost 55 percent of women over the age of sixteen in the state of Ohio were actively in the labor market. Whites comprised 88.2 percent of the total labor force while blacks comprised 10.4 percent. Yet, as reported in earlier chapters, black women are most highly represented among victims of discrimination. Does this mean that they are more likely to be fired? Who, among the women represented in these cases, is stuck below the “glass ceiling?” What types of injuries are black women sustaining, and are their charges significantly different from those of white women?

Figure 7.1 shows the injuries filed by black and white women, broken down by percentage within the charging party’s own race/ethnicity in each of the following injury categories: hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, and general harassment. Notable is the high representation of firing cases (57 percent) and general harassment (29 percent) cases for both black and white women. General harassment cases include those where the employer or fellow employees are doing something to make the work environment intolerable for the charging party. It can take on many forms, including sexual harassment, differential treatment due to pregnancy, antagonism, exclusion from opportunities given to other employees, and so on. The basic premise of general harassment is to make the charging party feel unwelcome and uncomfortable.

When examining breakdowns of the injury claims, both black and white women have high and relatively similar rates of discriminatory firing. Yet, in-depth analyses of qualitative case material suggests that the experience of discriminatory firing itself does indeed vary. Many more white women are unjustly fired, it appears, owing to pregnancy and maternity related issues—a result consistent with findings reported in chapter 3 and variations between the public and private sectors reported in chapter 5. Black women, in comparison, tend to define their discriminatory treatment in terms of differential treatment or unequal terms and conditions relative to other, white employees. For example, as Regina Smith, a medical biller, states:

On September 21, 1999, Adrianne Moss, White, Manager, gave me a letter that stated that they would no longer be needing my services due to excessive absences and my inability to take direction and work the hours I was hired to work.... I believe that I was discharged due to considerations of my race, Black, because Martha Gregory, White, Medical Biller, had excessive absences and was not discharged. I only missed two days while employed by Respondent and I successfully completed my probationary period. Between September and December, Moss called me

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