Discussion Response 2.17.09 Gender Stratification in America

Feb. 17 2009- I attended an open discussion conducted by USF St.Pete Anthropology Professor Kathryn Arthur. The topic discussed was gender stratification in America. Charts from the National Science Foundation, (dating from the 1960s to 2006), reveal that women are exceeding the number of men who hold University degrees in sciences, social sciences and non S&E. Men, however, still outweigh the number of women who hold engineering jobs (54,821 to 13,300).
Why is it that women have more degrees in sciences than engineering?

I think that women have a tendency to lean towards degrees in social sciences (79,350- the largest of any science category) because the subject matter of social science allows them to relate the history of women's struggle for gender equality.

The most shocking information discussed in this lecture was the gender pay gap in our country. The pay gap between men and women has been a sort of invisible issue to me because I've never experienced earning less than my male co-workers. Statistics of the pay gap in ink came to me like a slap in the face. "One year after college, female graduates working full time earn only about 80 percent as much as male graduates earn. After accounting for all factors known to affect wages, about one quarter of the gap remains unexplained and may be attributed to discrimination... Ten years after graduation, women working full time only earn about 69 percent as much as men working full time earn."

We dicussed ways to close the pay gap:

• Negotiate more! It's more likely for women to take the first salary offer, whereas men tend to negotiate a higher salary.
• Do research on salary before interview. (To make sure you know what you should be getting paid).
• The private sector needs to mandate and ensure equal pay. For example, the state of Minnesota keeps track and ensures, through research and periodical statistics, that men and women are being paid the same for state jobs.
• Maternity leave needs to be mandated so that women are ensured a job after they have babies.

Ch. 5 Blog

Somethings that I didn't think about, regarding our potential documents:

-Instructional documents usually include many illustrations, such as action-view drawings or photographs. *Can we come up with these drawings ourselves and have them printed on the pamphlets or should we use clip art?

-Documents are used as a reference resource. *My understanding of this is that we should list references in our documents, such as, books, web sites, and local organic farms and CSAs (A term that I learned TODAY :-) that means Community Supported Agriculture).

-Field test the documents with potential users. * Good idea but sounds like a lot of work. I want to talk to my group/instructor/Shari & Andrea about this to see if we have enough time to do this one!

Sunday 2/15 Organic Farming Workshop

The Garden held a workshop today, led by organic farming instructor Susan Huff. I attended the 2 hr workshop (11-1) and took notes that will most likely be used later on in our fact sheets or handbook. Learn to grow your own food and sustain your own life as a means of beating the system, the system being the government. This comment made by Susan during the workshop impacted me.

Saturday 2/14 mulch spread

My dad works for the city and was able to hook up a delivery of 12 cubic yards of mulch for the Garden. I spent Saturday morning wheel-barreling and spreading mulch and getting to know some of the other volunteers. It felt like a refreshing way to spend my morning!

first visit with Shari and the garden

Saturday 2/7
I met Shari Hazlett, one of the head organizationl leaders of Bartlett Community Garden.
After our rondezvous at the Saturday Morning Market (where the Garden has a booth selling native plants to raise money) we took a quick tour of the MLK & 14th Ave S. location. I saw that the Garden need more physical labor than had already been put in by hard working volunteers. Shari told me that the once trashed lot has come a long way since its revival a little less than a year ago. The Garden relies completely on volunteer services and because of this reliance, I decided that making a volunteer handbook for the non-profit organization would be very beneficial. I also met Joe, who is a specialist on drip irrigation and whom I'll later be interviewing on the functions of garden work.

2.2.09 In-Class Blog

What are your goals for your life? What are your goals for attending college? What are your goals for this class? What do you hope to accomplish by taking this class? What is your vision of your future? If you could accomplish anything, what would it be?

Short term goals: become an active member of a non-profit organization(s); complete this semester with As and Bs.
Medium term goals: travel this summer; become fluent in Spanish; start looking for internships.
Longer term goals: Get a Master's in Anthropology and a Minor in Rhetoric/Composition and begin PhD work on something that's very important to me; make a difference.

Through this class, I hope that I do something very productive in working with a non-profit orgnization. I also hope to get good writing practice and to put my skill to the test in real life response to my writing.

If I could accomplish anything, it would be to be a positive change in people's lives every day, in one way or another, while working towards conserving or planet and human diversity.