Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.
Issue link: https://advance.epubxp.com/i/211071
Gender, Workplace, Equity I nfusing students with intellectual insight that will also serve them on a practical level is the goal of "The Gendered Workplace" course, according to Professor Ileen DeVault. The learning covers a lot of ground, including sex segregation, norms of masculinity, race, disability, family, pay equity, bullying, union representation and the legal rights of workers who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. "I can tell you, they do leave with a different understanding of how gender impacts workplace experiences," said DeVault, who initiated development of the course with Workplace Issues Director KC Wagner of the Worker Institute. The two-credit, pass-fail undergraduate course is part of the institute's Equity at Work Initiative led by co-chairs DeVault and Wagner, and Assistant Professor Beth Livingston. Equity at Work projects include research on restaurant employment, street harassment and the gendered nature of caregiving. "The Gendered Workplace," being taught next semester for the third time, points out gender issues that influence workplace cultures. One student said the course prompted him, for the first time, to look at his world through the lens of gender differences. The course, another said, "was as if I were looking into the past and recognizing a glimpse of a life that had at one time or another been my own." Topics and presenters include: • the growing proportion and impact of women entrepreneurs Assistant Professor Michele Williams • the legal rights of workers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender Senior Extension Associate Lee Adler • reproductive issues and workplace exposure Lecturer Elizabeth Karns • protections union contracts give women NYS AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute Co-Director Sally Alvarez • pay disparities between men and women Institute for Compensation Studies Executive Director Linda Barrington • sexual harassment as a form of workplace discrimination Workplace Issues Director KC Wagner • patterns of newly organized workers and those who organize them Labor Education Research Director Kate Bronfenbrenner, A&S; '76, Ph.D. '93 • the 2011 Wal-Mart class-action bias case Labor and Employment Law Programs Director Esta Bigler '70 • how green jobs can help support gender equality in the workplace Worker Institute Associate Director Lara Skinner • when and why women entered the modern workplace Professor Ileen DeVault • work-family issues Assistant Professor Beth Livingston Learn more about Equity at Work at: www.ilr.cornell.edu/workerinstitute/ initiatives/equity-at-work. • lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in the workplace Professor and Associate Dean for External Relations Richard Hurd Online Labor Studies Director Linda Donahue • the additional layer of difference that disability contributes to the gendered workplace Employment and Disability Institute Associate Nancy Hinkley Several said they were inspired to learn about opportunities for women entrepreneurs. The course grew from a meeting to which DeVault and Wagner invited colleagues engaged in gender-centric research and outreach. Collectively, the group came up with "The Gendered Workplace," which features a guest lecturer each week. 8 ADVANCE