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A woman in surgical clothing, wearing a mask, checks on a patient.
Women
  1. Married Women Working in the Post War Era
  2. Laws Regarding Working Women
  3. Clerical Work for Women
  4. Sticky Floor and Glass Ceiling: Barriers to Career Advancement
  5. Alpha Earners: High Earning Married Women
  6. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
  7. Birth Rates in the United States
  8. Women in Politics in the U.S.
  9. Women in the U.S. Military
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A waitress, holding several plates, smiles
Waitress work tends to be very low paying with long hours, yet can be relatively easy work to get with little or no experience.
Photo Courtesy of TelActive, Inc. Photo by David Goldberg.
Sticky Floor and Glass Ceiling: Barriers to Career Advancement
The term "sticky floor" is used to describe a discriminatory employment pattern that keeps a certain group of people at the bottom of the job scale. Most of the workers who experience the "sticky floor" are "pink collar workers," such as secretaries, nurses, or waitresses. Close to half of working women, compared to one-sixth of working men, hold clerical or service jobs which are often associated with the "sticky floor." By comparison, the term "glass ceiling" is used to describe an artificial discriminatory barrier which blocks the advancement of women or people of color who already hold fairly good jobs, usually in middle management. Although women who run into the glass ceilings are more educated and privileged than those who experience the sticky floor, women in both situations have some similarities. Both have low mobility and find themselves unable to better their situation. Also, most of these women are expected to work a "double day," where they are expected to do household work in addition to their wage labor.
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