Barbara Reskin
Encyclopedia
Barbara Reskin is a professor
of sociology
. As the S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington
, Reskin studies labor market stratification, examining job queues, nonstandard work, sex segregation
, and affirmative action
policies in employment and university admissions, mechanisms of work-place discrimination
, and the role of credit markets in income poverty
and inequality.
Reskin has spent many years teaching, holding previous faculty positions at University of California-Davis, Indiana University
, University of Michigan
, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
, Harvard, and Ohio State University
. Reskin has written six books and many articles on gender and racial inequality in the workplace.
, and grew up in Renton, Washington
. After a brief stint at Reed College
, Reskin moved to Cleveland, Ohio
, where she was involved in the Congress on Racial Equality. Reskin returned to the Pacific Northwest
and received her bachelor's degree
, in 1968, and Ph.D.
, in 1973, from the University of Washington
.
and on several National Academy of Sciences
/National Research Council
committees. A past fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
, Reskin is a fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences. She served as the 93rd President of the American Sociological Association
in 2002 and was awarded a Distinguished Scholar Award of the ASA Section on Sex and Gender. Other honors include the Cheryl Miller-Sociologists for Women in Society Lecturership and the SWS Mentorship Award.
Three factors influence job and labor queues: the ordering of the elements, whether or not these elements overlap, and lastly their shape. The order of the elements pertains to the order that workers rank preferred jobs and employers rank potential workers. The overlap of the elements refers to the strength of the ranker’s choices for one element over another. The shape is determined by the absolute and relative numbers of elements in a queue. An example would be a situation in which the preferred workers group was the same size as the preferred job group, in which the preferred group will dominate the occupation of the good jobs.
The first is job deterioration which is attributed to the changing of the ordering of job queues. Most of the jobs Reskin studied feminized after the rewards changed, therefore making them less appealing than other possibilities.
The second factor is job growth which shows that there was a change in the shape of the job queues. There was a time when you wouldn’t need to hire women because you had enough men to do the job. But with an increasing job market, there was more of a spread of who wanted what jobs.
The third factor was the emergence of a sex-specific demand for women which reflected the changes in the ordering of labor queues. After anti-discrimination laws were passed, employers were concerned about the costs—both monetarily and reputation-based—that they would run into by hiring solely men.
Connected to the third factor is the fourth which is the declining preference for men. This is due to the changes in employers’ preferences. As stated before, the public would no longer tolerate discrimination towards women. Actions such as the civil rights movement and the feminist movement reinforced this concept.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. As the S. Frank Miyamoto Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, Reskin studies labor market stratification, examining job queues, nonstandard work, sex segregation
Sex segregation
Sex segregation is the separation of people according to their sex.The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination...
, and affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
policies in employment and university admissions, mechanisms of work-place discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
, and the role of credit markets in income poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and inequality.
Reskin has spent many years teaching, holding previous faculty positions at University of California-Davis, Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, Harvard, and Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
. Reskin has written six books and many articles on gender and racial inequality in the workplace.
Biography
Reskin was born in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, and grew up in Renton, Washington
Renton, Washington
Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...
. After a brief stint at Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, Reskin moved to Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, where she was involved in the Congress on Racial Equality. Reskin returned to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
and received her bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, in 1968, and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
, in 1973, from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
.
Honors
Reskin served on the Board of Overseers of the General Social SurveyGeneral Social Survey
The General Social Survey is a sociological survey used to collect data on demographic characteristics and attitudes of residents of the United States. The survey is conducted face-to-face with an in-person interview by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, of a...
and on several National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
/National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
committees. A past fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, Reskin is a fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences. She served as the 93rd President of the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
in 2002 and was awarded a Distinguished Scholar Award of the ASA Section on Sex and Gender. Other honors include the Cheryl Miller-Sociologists for Women in Society Lecturership and the SWS Mentorship Award.
Queuing theory
Barbara Reskin is known for her expansion and use of queuing theory to explain the persistence sex segregation in the workplace despite the movement of many women into new occupational fields. While occupational segregation has declined since 1970, most workers remain in sex-segregated jobs. Through the queuing approach we are able to see how and why sex segregation remains a prominent feature of the workplace. A variety of social and economic forces enable segregation as well as to diminish it.Queuing
A queuing perspective suggests that labor markets consist of labor queues and job queues. Labor queues consist of all possible workers in a "queue" to fill a particular job, and the employer determines the order of the workers in this queue. Similarly, job queues consist of all possible jobs available to a worker, with workers ranking the available jobs. Employers hire workers from as high in the labor queue has possible and the workers will accept the best possible job. By doing this the most wanted jobs go to the most favored workers, while the less preferred jobs go to the less wanted workers. This procedure then leaves the deprived workers with no job or occupying jobs that others have rejected.Three factors influence job and labor queues: the ordering of the elements, whether or not these elements overlap, and lastly their shape. The order of the elements pertains to the order that workers rank preferred jobs and employers rank potential workers. The overlap of the elements refers to the strength of the ranker’s choices for one element over another. The shape is determined by the absolute and relative numbers of elements in a queue. An example would be a situation in which the preferred workers group was the same size as the preferred job group, in which the preferred group will dominate the occupation of the good jobs.
Occupational feminization
There are four notable reasons that there has been a change in occupations' sex composition.The first is job deterioration which is attributed to the changing of the ordering of job queues. Most of the jobs Reskin studied feminized after the rewards changed, therefore making them less appealing than other possibilities.
The second factor is job growth which shows that there was a change in the shape of the job queues. There was a time when you wouldn’t need to hire women because you had enough men to do the job. But with an increasing job market, there was more of a spread of who wanted what jobs.
The third factor was the emergence of a sex-specific demand for women which reflected the changes in the ordering of labor queues. After anti-discrimination laws were passed, employers were concerned about the costs—both monetarily and reputation-based—that they would run into by hiring solely men.
Connected to the third factor is the fourth which is the declining preference for men. This is due to the changes in employers’ preferences. As stated before, the public would no longer tolerate discrimination towards women. Actions such as the civil rights movement and the feminist movement reinforced this concept.
Understanding occupational composition
First, we see that queuing highlights the group nature of sex segregation that occurs due to rankings that are socially structured by groups in conflict. It also takes the effects of noneconomic factors into account—the rankings of both employers on potential employees and perspective employees’ rankings on the jobs available. Lastly, queuing presumes that a person will rank occupations similarly based on their sex, which ultimately foreshadows women’s entry into traditionally male occupations based on the rewards they offer.Books
- (with Irene Padavic) Women and Men at Work, Pine Forge Press, ISBN 978-0761987109
- Women's Work, Men's Work: Sex Segregation on the Job, National Academy Press, ISBN 978-0309034296
- Job Queues, Gender Queues: Explaining Women's Inroads into Male Occupations , Temple University Press, ISBN 978-0877227441
- Realities of Affirmative Action in Employment, Amer Sociological Assn, ISBN 978-0912764368
Recent Peer-Reviewed Articles
- (with Shannon Harper) "Affirmative Action in School and on the Job." Annual Review of Sociology 31
- (with Denise B. Bielby) "A Sociological Perspective on Gender and Career Outcomes.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 19(Winter):71-86.
- "Motives and Mechanisms in Modeling Inequality." American Sociological Review 68:1-21.
- (with Deborah Merritt and Lowell Hargens) “Raising the Bar: A Social Science Critique of Recent Increases to Passing Scores on the Bar Exam.”Cincinnati Law Review 69:929-68.