Women’s authority jobs differ both in tasks and quality

The representation of women in workplace authority has generally increased over time. But the move of women into these traditionally men-dominated arenas is still very uneven. Sociologist Dragana Stojmenovska studied the gendered distribution of workplace authority and reveals how women's authority jobs differ both in tasks and quality. Women in authority have less control over organizational resources than men and face lower levels of job resources and higher levels of job strains. These differences cannot be explained by individual authority-associated characteristics of women and men. Friday 18 March she will defend her PhD thesis at the University of Amsterdam. Workplace authority can be defined as positions that confer some sort of power to employees, like having supervisory authority or authority over organizational resources. Authority jobs are seen as more resourceful than those without authority since they come with higher earnings and psychological job rewards. 'Men's disproportionate representation in these positions therefore represents a source and instance of gender inequality', states sociologist Dragana Stojmenovska. With her research Stojmenovska answers two important questions surrounding women's and men's representation in workplace authority that were so far unanswered: What do women's authority jobs look like compared to those of men? What role do cultural beliefs and the gendered path to parenthood play in the attainment of authority positions? The gender gap is largest in positions with things-oriented tasks