Academic

Should job creation favor men?

By Laura Appleman

A thought-provoking  op-ed in today's San Francisco Chronicle by law profs Melissa Murray and Darren Rosenblum:

The G.I. Bill offers important lessons for the present economic situation. Now, as then, policymakers seek to avert economic disaster. To do so, the United States has initiated the fastest budgetary expansion since the end of World War II. Stimulus monies are intended to fuel infrastructure projects and construction, creating jobs and encouraging spending. The banking and automotive bailouts may prevent mass unemployment.

But the bailouts and other stimulus measures aim to bolster the economy by bolstering men. This is perhaps unsurprising. Those most imperiled by the recent economic downturn have been men, who have lost their jobs as the markets plunged. The two flagging industries targeted for bailouts are ones in which men play an outsize role - the automotive and financial services industries. The slump in construction has directly affected men, who make up the bulk of workers in this sector.

*     *     *

Thus, the bailout and stimulus measures warrant additional scrutiny - from the perspective of gender equality. It is important to correct our economic course. But it is also important that we not repeat past mistakes by ignoring women's economic status. We must recognize that the traditional model of male breadwinner and female homemaker has given way to a new division of labor in which women may support themselves or, if coupled, participate equally in bearing the family's economic load.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 19, 2009 (boomark / email).