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49 Soc. Probs. 258 (2002)
Male Advantage and the Gender Composition of Jobs: Who Rides the Glass Escalator

handle is hein.journals/socprob49 and id is 268 raw text is: Male Advantage and the Gender Composition of Jobs: Who Rides the Glass Escalator? MICHELLE J. BUDIG, University of Massachusetts Is the gender gap in pay constant across all jobs, or does the gender composition of the job affect male advantage? Using data from the NLSY and a finely detailed measure of the gender composition of jobs, I investi- gate gender differences in wages and in wage growth. I show how they differ between female-dominated, male- dominated, and balanced jobs. Predictions from Kanter's theory of tokenism and the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations are tested. Findings indicate that men are advantaged, net of controls, in both pay levels and wage growth in all jobs, regardless of gender composition. Contrary to predictions generated from Kanter's tokenism theory, men do not suffer when they are tokens, in terms of pay. Not only are predictions from Kanter's theory untrue for male tokens, they also do not hold for female tokens when it comes to wages. Rather, consistent with the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations, men are no more-and no less-advantaged when women are tokens; in terms of earnings, men are uniformly advantaged in male-dominated, female- dominated, and balanced jobs. Analyses of promotions data indicate that men are also not additionally advan- taged whether they are the numerically dominant or minority gender; in fact, male advantage in promotions is the smallest when men are tokens. Women's increasing participation in paid labor and their experiences in the workplace have been the subjects of considerable research in recent decades. Past research shows that women's career trajectories and earnings are restricted due to occupational gender segregation (see England 1992), sexism in hiring and promotion (Bielby and Baron 1986), and their responsibilities for children and the home (Budig and England 2001). Compared with men, women are disadvantaged in terms of pay either because they are in lower-paying, feminized occupations, or because they are paid less for the same work. Even women in traditionally male jobs are disadvantaged (Kanter 1977). The experiences of token women-those in male- dominated fields-have generated theories to explain why such women hit the glass ceiling (i.e., find their upward mobility in organizational hierarchies blocked). Turned on its head, female disadvantage becomes male advantage. In this study I ask: Is the magnitude of men's advantage in earnings the same across three types of job gender compositions-female-dominated, gender-balanced, and male-domi- nated-or do men fare differently in each of these groups? Prior theoretical and empirical work raises the question of relative male advantage in earnings. Some researchers argue that male advantage at work is hegemonic because the workplace and jobs are gendered in such a way that traditional male work styles, social networks, and personal lives are favored. Men are advantaged even when they are the numerical minority in the workplace, as Williams's research (1992, 1995) attests. Other research, most notably Kanter's 1977 study, indicates that I am indebted to Paula England for comments, criticisms, and encouragement. I also thank Richard Arum, Naomi Gerstel, Lynn Smith-Lovin, Yvonne Zylan, David Smith, and the anonymous reviewers of this article for Social Problems for comments on earlier drafts. Direct correspondence to: Michelle Budig, SADRI, W34A Machmer Hall, 240 Hicks Way, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. E-mail: budig@soc.umass.edu. SOCIAL PROBLEMS, Vol. 49, No. 2, pages 258-277. ISSN: 0037-7791; online ISSN: 1533-8533 © 2002 by Society for the Study of Social Problems, Inc. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223.

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