PINK COLLAR GHETTO

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2011, Pink-collar ghetto, Pink-collar

"Pink-collar" is traditionally associated with women. In their seminal work on women, children and poverty in America, Stallard, Ehrenreich and Sklar (1983, 18) coined the term "pink collar ghetto." 

They acknowledged the increasing paid labor force participation of women. Yet they brought to light the structural inequities women face in occupational sectors into which they are segregated.

Expanding the dichotomy between blue-collar and white-collar occupations the phrase pink-collar ghetto captures the particular concentration of women in jobs traditionally thought to be ‘women's work’.

Women have a preference for traditional pink-collar work and few women have broken out of the pink-collar ghetto. In 1991, for example,

57% of female workers (and only 26% of men) were in the three occupational categories: clerical, sales and service.

13.5% of women were in the specific occupations of stenographers, secretaries and sales clerks.

88% of cashiers  were women

98% of secretaries  were women,

93% of receptionists  were women and

81% of elementary and kindergarten teachers were women.

Sharon Mastracci, UIC assistant professor of public administration, is the author of a new book, "Breaking Out of the Pink Collar Ghetto:

Writers call clerical occupations the "pink-collar ghetto" because they absorbed so much of the rapidly-expanding female labor force.

NEW BOOK TELLS HOW WOMEN CAN ESCAPE THE 'PINK-COLLAR GHETTO'
Anne Brooks Ranallo, (312) 355-2523, aranallo@uic.edu 
A University of Illinois at Chicago professor says vocational training is a viable career alternative for many women who do not attend college.
Sharon Mastracci, UIC assistant professor of public administration, is the author of a new book, "Breaking Out of the Pink Collar Ghetto:
Policy Solutions for Non-College Women" (M.E. Sharpe), which says women with no college education should move into the trades, finance, law enforcement and other male-dominated fields, and not settle for clerical jobs.
"Although more women now go to college and more graduate, it remains that the majority do not earn degrees," Mastracci said.
"College-for-all presumptions have precipitated funding cuts of non-college training. Of the few vocational programs that have survived, many steer women toward low-skilled jobs that offer few opportunities for advancement."
Mastracci conducted an in-depth analysis of case studies and statistics gathered over 10 years throughout the United States.
What she found was that, overall, women without degrees fared worse than men without degrees. Her study also found that women working in fields employing mainly men earned more and gained more promotions. 
For women who went into those fields, government training programs were most effective when an agency administered them in partnership with educational institutions and trade groups, Mastracci said.
Ultimately, the training programs' long-term success was achieved when all partnering organization leaders communicated regularly, maintained accountability, and adapted their programs to meet regional job market demands, added Mastracci.

Pink-collar workers fight to leave "ghetto"
By Carol Kleiman

"And you've heard of the blue-collar worker — who usually can be found in manufacturing and trade jobs. But there's also a lesser-known category: the pink-collar worker, who is employed in fields such as teaching, nursing, public relations, human resources, administration, child care and in clerical and secretarial work. And because pink-collar workers are employed in jobs traditionally dominated by women, there's another name to describe this category: The pink ghetto."

"The term 'pink ghetto' was coined in 1983 in a study of women, children and poverty in America and was used to describe the limits on women's career advancement in these traditional, often low-paying jobs," said Jonamay Lambert, president and founder of Lambert & Associates, a diversity and consulting firm in East Dundee, Ill.

"It's estimated that today 55 percent of women working outside of the home are trapped in the pink ghetto. There probably are fewer women in that category today than there were 10 years ago — mainly because women themselves have made the effort to make the change."

PINK COLLAR

A term that denotes jobs and employment sectors dominated by women workers.

The term "pink collar" was used in order to distinguish certain jobs from white collar jobs, and also to distinguish women in these roles from other white-collar workers. Pink collar work did not require much professional training and did not offer equal pay or prestige.

Pink collar positions have increased as more and more women enter the workforce. Industrialization has increased the scope for the services provided by pink collar workers.

The term pink-collar ghetto is used to refer to the underprivileged condition of women being concentrated into low wage, 
underpaid jobs. 

Though equal rights and equal pay legislation have been passed by most countries, women in pink-collar jobs are still getting 
paid less that what men generally get paid.

Women have been traditionally pushed into caregiving jobs. Very few women work in blue-collar jobs. This kind of segregation 
will have negative impact in the long run because caregivers get paid much less than blue-collar and white-collar workers, who 
often get unionized wages.

Women who head nonprofit agencies in Pennsylvania have fallen into a "pink collar ghetto" where their salaries lag way behind those earned by their male counterparts. Men tend to get the plum jobs at bigger agencies that can pay larger salaries, while most small nonprofits are headed by low-paid women, data show. 

"Of course, what you're looking at is a pink collar ghetto," said Peggy M. Outon, executive director of the Bayer Center at Robert Morris University in Moon, which annually surveys salaries of male and female nonprofit leaders in the area. 

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