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Women's relationships with women at work: Barriers to solidarity
Author(s) -
Webber Gretchen R.,
Giuffre Patti
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/soc4.12698
Subject(s) - harassment , scholarship , inequality , sociology , gender studies , work (physics) , solidarity , gender inequality , women's work , devaluation , social psychology , psychology , political science , economic growth , economics , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , mathematics , politics , law , exchange rate , engineering , macroeconomics
Voluminous scholarship documents the wage gap, occupational segregation, sexual harassment, and other forms of gender inequality at work. Few sociological studies explore women's work relationships with other women. Our article summarizes existing research from several disciplines on women's working relationships with other women. Specifically, three themes about the conditions of work emerge that discourage women's support for other women: (a) negative stereotypes about women, (b) lack of recognition of gender inequality, and (c) the devaluation of women's relationships, groups, and networks. We assert that these conditions reinforce essentialized notions of women, ignore larger structural inequalities at work, and cast women as the primary culprit in perpetuating gender inequality at work. We conclude with promising areas for future research on women's working relationships with other women.