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All I want is a job! : unemployed women navigating the public workforce system
In All I Want Is a Job!, Mary Gatta puts a human face on workforce development policy. An ethnographic sociologist, Gatta went undercover, posing as a client in a New Jersey One-Stop Career Center. One-Stop Centers, developed as part of the federal Workforce Investment Act, are supposed to be an unemployed worker's go-to resource on the way to re-employment. But, how well do these centers function? With swarms of new clients coming through their doors, are they fit for the task of pairing America's workforce with new jobs?
Weaving together her own account with interviews of jobless women and caseworkers, Gatta offers a revealing glimpse of the toll that unemployment takes and the realities of social policy. Women—both educated and unskilled—are particularly vulnerable in the current economy. Since they are routinely paid less than their male counterparts, economic security is even harder for them to grasp. And, women are more easily tracked into available, low-wage work in sectors such as retail or food service.
Originally designed to pair job-ready workers with available openings, the current system is ill fitted for diverse clients who are seeking gainful employment. Even if One-Stops were better suited to the needs of these workers, good jobs are scarce in the wake of the Great Recession. In spite of these pitfalls, Gatta saw hope and a sense of empowerment in clients who got intensive career counseling, new jobs, and social support.
Drawing together tales from the frontlines, she highlights the promise and weaknesses of One-Stop Career Centers, recommending key shifts in workforce policy. America deserves a system that is less discriminatory, more human, and better able to assist women and their families in particular. The employed and unemployed alike would be better served by such a system—one that would meaningfully contribute to our economic recovery and future prosperity.
eBook
Biased Humans, (Un)Biased Algorithms?
Previous research has shown that algorithmic decisions can reflect gender bias. The increasingly widespread utilization of algorithms in critical decision-making domains (e.g., healthcare or hiring) can thus lead to broad and structural disadvantages for women. However, women often experience bias and discrimination through human decisions and may turn to algorithms in the hope of receiving neutral and objective evaluations. Across three studies (N = 1107), we examine whether women’s receptivity to algorithms is affected by situations in which they believe that their gender identity might disadvantage them in an evaluation process. In Study 1, we establish, in an incentive-compatible online setting, that unemployed women are more likely to choose to have their employment chances evaluated by an algorithm if the alternative is an evaluation by a man rather than a woman. Study 2 generalizes this effect by placing it in a hypothetical hiring context, and Study 3 proposes that relative algorithmic objectivity, i.e., the perceived objectivity of an algorithmic evaluator over and against a human evaluator, is a driver of women’s preferences for evaluations by algorithms as opposed to men. Our work sheds light on how women make sense of algorithms in stereotype-relevant domains and exemplifies the need to provide education for those at risk of being adversely affected by algorithmic decisions. Our results have implications for the ethical management of algorithms in evaluation settings. We advocate for improving algorithmic literacy so that evaluators and evaluatees (e.g., hiring managers and job applicants) can acquire the abilities required to reflect critically on algorithmic decisions.
Journal Article
Can Active Labour Market Programmes Emulate the Mental Health Benefits of Regular Paid Employment? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom
Active Labour Market Programmes (ALMPs), which form important components of employment support policies around the world, have been found to improve mental health and wellbeing of participants. However, it remains unclear how these health effects compare with the effects of different types of employment for men and women. Using 1991–2019 panel data in the UK, we find that unemployed women derive similar mental health benefits from ALMPs compared with employment. Unemployed men also benefit from ALMPs but obtain significantly more health benefits from formal employment. Such benefits are particularly pronounced in full-time, permanent and upper/middle-status jobs. Further analyses reveal that programmes that deliver human capital training have larger mental health benefits than employment assistance ALMPs. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the mental health impacts of ALMPs compared with different types of employment, and highlight the need for a more gender-sensitive design in labour market interventions.
Journal Article
Unemployment and the Division of Housework in Europe
Unemployment, especially in insecure times, has devastating effects on families, but it is not clear what happens to domestic work. On the one hand, unemployment frees up time for more housework by both men and women. On the other hand, once unemployed, women may take on more additional housework than men do, either because they capitalize on their time to act out traditional gender roles or because unemployment compounds women’s general disadvantage in household bargaining. Multi-level analyses based on the European Social Survey show that both men and women perform more housework when unemployed. However, the extra domestic work for unemployed women is greater than for unemployed men. They also spend more time on housework when their husband is unemployed. Compared to their employed counterparts, unemployed women, but not men, perform even more housework in a country where the unemployment rate is higher.
Journal Article
The Ideal Job‐Seeker Norm: Unemployment and Marital Privileges in the Professional Middle‐Class
Objective To understand how heterosexual US married parents interpret and respond to a spouse's unemployment and subsequent job‐searching. Background The pervasiveness of employment uncertainty, and unemployment, may propel families to embrace gender egalitarian norms. Quantitative research finds that this possibility is not borne out. Qualitative research has sought to illuminate mechanisms as to how gender norms persist even during a time that is optimal for dismantling them, but these mechanisms remain unclear. Method Seventy‐two in‐depth interviews were conducted with a nonrandom sample of heterosexual, professional, dual‐earner, married, unemployed women, men, and their spouses in the United States. Follow‐up interviews were conducted with 35 participants. Intensive family observations were conducted with four families, two of unemployed men, and two of unemployed women. Results Unemployed women, men, and spouses acknowledge that a set of time‐intensive activities are key for reemployment (the ideal job‐seeker norm). Couples with unemployed men direct resources such as time, space, and even money to facilitate unemployed men's compliance with the ideal job‐seeker norm. Couples downplay the importance of women's reemployment and do not direct similar resources to help unemployed women job‐search. Conclusion Couples preserve a traditional gender status quo, often in defiance of material realities, by actively maintaining men's position at the helm of paid work and women's at unpaid work. Implications Linking unemployment and job‐seeking with the institution of heterosexual marriage reveals novel insights into social and marital processes shaping job‐seeking.
Journal Article
Assessment of intimate partner violence victimization and its association with the psychological state of abused women and social support in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study
Background
Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a significant global concern, profoundly affecting physical, psychological, sexual, and financial well-being. Its prevalence is notably high in conservative societies including Saudi Arabia (SA). Given the limited research on the role of social support in IPV within SA. This study aimed to assess IPV victimization and its association with the psychological state of abused women in SA, and the effects of social support on the women’s experience of IPV.
Methods
A total of 128 women participated in this cross-sectional study. Data were collected from September 2022 to March 2023 using the World Health Organization Multi-Country Violence Against Women, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.
Results
One-quarter of women experienced at least one type of IPV, with more than half of them experienced financial (65.6%), sexual (53.9%), emotional (57.8%), controlling behavior (43.8%) and physical (39.8%) abuse. IPV victimization, be it physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, and IPV frequency were positively correlated with psychological distress (M = 15.05, SD = 6.82,
p
= .009), anxiety and depression (M = 6.29, SD = 2.57,
p
= .004), and loss of confidence (M = 2.57, SD = 1.90,
p
< .001). Social support was negatively associated with physical and controlling behavior abuse (
p
= .01) as well as IPV frequency (
p
= .024). The risk factors of IPV were unemployed women, employed husbands, history of child abuse for wives and husbands, financial struggle and arranged marriage.
Conclusions
The conclusion was that IPV can cause psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and loss of confidence and can be buffered by social support. Given its prevalence and impact on mental health, it is crucial to establish strict policies and regulations to prevent IPV and provide effective interventions and support for abused women.
Journal Article
S11-1: How to reach women in difficult life situations and encourage their participation in physical activity: Insights from urban and rural areas
Abstract
Purpose
The community-based participatory research project “BIG” aims to empower socially disadvantaged women (e.g. single-mothers, unemployed women) to engage in physical activity (PA) and exercise. These women face barriers to exercise, such as high registration fees, limited childcare options, and culturally insensitive programs. This study explored various approaches to reaching these women and compared strategies between rural and urban areas.
Methods
Over the last three years, two cities and three rural districts in Bavaria, Germany, have adopted the BIG project, previously implemented in 17 cities. As part of the intervention-study, project coordinators participated in annual individual interviews with a specific focus on reaching women. A total of 11 interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an inductive qualitative content-analysis, assisted by MAXQDA software, to address the research objective.
Results
Preliminary results suggest that women facing difficult life situations (e.g., being unemployed, single mothers or from a different cultural background) are more readily reached in urban settings compared to rural areas. This can be attributed to the better-equipped structures and networks present in urban areas. Cities usually have specific meeting points, such as women's centers, support centers for immigrants and asylum seekers, or integration officers. In rural areas, the engagement of individual volunteers is crucial, especially leaning on the efforts of pivotal figures within each community. These individuals contribute their networks and expertise to support these initiatives, having earned the trust of the citizens. While individual 'champions' are influential in both rural and urban areas, their efforts and the trust they establish play a more significant role in rural areas.
Conclusions
The study results highlight the necessity for distinct approaches, particularly in rural areas. Subsequent initiatives should prioritize devising methods to implement projects in these regions and employ strategies to reach women facing difficult life situations, especially those residing away from existing services.
Support/Funding Source
This study was funded by the GKV-Bündnis for health.
Journal Article
Understanding Mental Health Status of Syrian Refugee and Jordanian Women: Novel Insights from a Comparative Study
(1) Background: War and displacement are well-known predictors of negative mental health outcomes among affected populations. This is especially relevant for refugees of war, particularly women, who often repress their mental health needs due to family responsibilities, social stigma, and/or cultural pressures. In this study, we compared the mental health status of urban Syrian refugee women (n = 139) with local Jordanian women (n = 160). (2) Methods: Psychometrically validated Afghan Symptom Checklist (ASC), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ) examined psychological distress, perceived stress, and mental health, respectively. (3) Results: According to independent t-tests, Syrian refugee women scored higher than Jordanian women on the ASC [mean score (SD): 60.79 (16.67) vs. 53.71 (17.80), p < 0.001], PSS [mean score (SD): 31.59 (8.45) vs. 26.94 (7.37), p < 0.001], and SRQ [mean score (SD): 11.82 (4.30) vs. 10.21 (4.72), p = 0.002]. Interestingly, both Syrian refugee and Jordanian women scored higher than the clinical cutoff in the SRQ. Regression analyses indicated that more educated women were less likely to score high on the SRQ (β = −0.143, p = 0.019), particularly in the anxiety and somatic symptoms subscale (β = −0.133, p = 0.021), and were less likely to exhibit symptoms of ruminative sadness (β = −0.138, p = 0.027). Employed women were more likely to exhibit high coping ability than unemployed women (β = 0.144, p = 0.012). (4) Conclusions: Syrian refugee women scored higher than Jordanian women in all used mental health scales. Access to mental health services and enhancing educational opportunities would help mitigate perceived stress and may enhance stress-coping abilities.
Journal Article