Nontraditional Jobs Research Articles

Creating Job Opportunities for Dietetic Technicians-101

LEARNING OUTCOME: To determine three methods of discovering non-traditional career opportunities for graduates of dietetic technology.Review of recent literature has shown changes in health care delivery. Educators must respond to prepare our graduates for the future. Three different methods were studied to assist students in discovering non-traditional jobs in dietetic technology. First, the Department of Dietetic Technology’s Advisory Council met to discuss the issues of health care trends. Their expertise was tapped to determine placement of dietetic technicians in non-traditional roles. The second method was a survey of community businesses involved in the promotion of wellness, fitness and preventative care. The survey asked what types of diet education/assessment were conducted by the business, who was responsible for the assessment/education, and determined their knowledge of dietetic technician’s skills and abilities. In effect, the survey was used as a tool to ascertain the community’s need for the services which can be provided by dietetic technicians. Lastly, skill building sessions were held with students, to aid in increasing their marketability in the workplace for the next century. Classes on resume preparation and job interviewing provided them with basic skills for job hunting. Discussions and role playing on “networking” and creating “ideal” jobs were explored in class to increase awareness on the changing role of the dietetic technician. Field trips to various facilities such as free standing dialysis units and vendor sponsored food shows demonstrated unique opportunities for dietetic technicians upon graduation. As dietetics continues to grow and adapt to trends in health care, educators must keep in mind skills needed by students to prepare them for the future.

Law Student Idealism and Job Choice: Some New Data on an Old Question

Numerous commentaries and empirical studies have suggested that while a substantial proportion of incoming law students are interested in careers in “public interest law,” by the time they graduate only a small minority take jobs in that sector. However, none of these studies have been based on a panel study having data on both job preference before students began their studies and information about the actual first job taken. This Research Note fills that gap by updating an earlier study of the University of Wisconsin Law School class of 1976. We find that while over half the respondents expressed some interest in public interest law before beginning law study, only 13% actually took a job in legal aid, as a public defender, or in a nonprofit organization. Analysis of respondents who initially expressed an interest in nontraditional jobs shows that political orientation and participation in a social action law program during law school are the strongest predictors of who in fact took a nontraditional job.

A Comparison of Substance Use Rates Among Female Nurses, Clerical Workers, and Blue-Collar Workers

The issue of impairment of practising professional nurses by alcohol and other drugs has become a critical concern since the 1980s. The literature abounds with conjectures about the large numbers of nurses who are impaired, often without valid data to support the claims that the problem in nursing is greater than it is in the general population. This study reflects an effort to compare the reported substance use of employed female nurses with that of two other groups of working females. Survey data from 920 nurses, 405 clerical workers and 200 females employed in non-traditional trades jobs in two large eastern states in the US revealed that there was little evidence of 'abuse' of any of 15 substances; nurses did not report higher rates of substance use than the other two groups; and most reported substance use occurred in the younger age groups, reflecting the national trend. The need for continuing research efforts and confirmation of valid data, and primary prevention efforts with young female workers, including at-risk student nurses, is made evident.

Repetitive Strain in Nonrepetitive Work: A Case Study.

In a Québec factory, a woman in a nontraditional job suffered from epicondylitis whereas her male coworkers were unaffected. A study was undertaken in order to enumerate the operations at risk for epicondylitis. Workers were interviewed in order to identify difficult operations and systematic observations were done over 4 work days. Although tasks were extremely varied, certain movements at risk for epicondylitis were repeated many times. Fifty-three valves were turned against resistance as part of this job, and one valve requiring a particularly difficult movement was turned 20 times in one day. There were at least 61 operations at risk for epicondylitis per day over a 4-day period. Strain on the elbow joint was particularly intense for the woman worker because the design of the workplace gave an advantage to taller workers with larger hands. Although this case study does not permit us to conclude that the worker's epicondylitis was due to her job, it enables us to suggest that it would be wise to adapt the dimensions of relevant equipment and worksites to a wider range of potential worker sizes. We also raise some questions about the definition of repetitive strain in epidemiological studies. We suggest that it may be necessary to consider not only the cycle time but also the total of forces exerted on a joint in order to study workplace injuries to the musculoskeletal system.

Women in Nontraditional Jobs

More females are entering once male dominated jobs that require physical strength, flexibility, and endurance. Musculoskeletal injuries, a leading cause of worker disability, occur more frequently when the physical demands of a job exceed the worker's physical capabilities. Although women are more flexible than men, differences in muscle mass, body composition, and size can place women at risk for injury. The risk for musculoskeletal injury can be reduced through ergonomic considerations and physical fitness.

Nuclear and Joint Family Households in West Bengal Villages

Studies on the joint family household in have revolved around two major questions. (1) Does the joint family household represent the typical household in rural and, if so, is it being replaced by the nuclear family household as it gains ground with increasing urbanization and industrialization? (2) Which segments of the rural Indian population are more prone than others to live in nuclear or joint family households? The answers to these questions so far have remained inconclusive and contradictory. Whether or not the rural population in typically lives in a joint family household, for example, is a matter of interpretation of the available data. Based on her comparison of 26 studies on family types in India, Kolenda (1968:390) observed that while most of the rural people live in joint family households of one type or another the majority of the households in rural are nuclear in structure. This fact thus can be used to support the arguments on either side of the question of whether or not the joint family is typical of India (Freed and Freed 1969:346). Kolenda (1968:390-91) also reported wide regional variations in the incidence of joint family households with the states in the Gangetic Plain having a significantly higher proportion than those in Central and the state of West Bengal where nuclear family households tend to be predominant, and explained these regional differences in terms of the differences in the customary time of break-up of the joint family. There are at least three identifiable views regarding whether or not nuclear family households are gaining ground at the expense of joint family households. According to one view (Gould 1968; Mukherjee 1977), the incidence of joint family households in has remained relatively stable and the nuclear family household is a structural contingent (Cohn 1961:1055), a transitional form (Mukherjee 1977:175), or a mere milestone in the pathway of the developmental cycle of the joint family and their occurrence has nothing to do with the disintegration of the joint family system; on the contrary they are a part of the system (Gould 1968:418). The second view is derived from Goode's (1963:19) thesis that urbanization and industrialization lead to the increase of nuclear family units at the expense of joint family units, for the former is better suited to the demands of spatial and social mobility of the modern economy as well its ideology emphasizing individualism rather than familism. Yadava (1966:27-28), based on his finding in a village near Delhi that individuals holding a nontraditional job with cash income tended to head nuclear family households, predicted a trend toward an increase in the number of nuclear family households in with the rise of nontraditional jobs with cash income as a result of increasing urbanization and industrialization. In a study of family types in another village near Delhi, Stanley and Ruth Freed (1969:352), however, found that the apparent relationship between a household head's occupation and the household type was more a function of his age rather than his occupation. The Freeds also failed to find any difference in the household types headed by urban-oriented and village-oriented individuals. The third view, put forward by Sen (1965), accepts Dube's (1961:261) assertion that the nuclear family household is the basic unit of rural social organization in India, and explains its numerical preponderance not in terms of increasing urban and industrial influences but in terms of prevalent subsistence patterns and related economic activities in village societies. Sen (1965:15) demonstrated a significant relationship between household type and two variables relating to subsistence - occupation and land ownership - in four relatively isolated West Bengal villages and interpreted it as evidence supporting his argument that prevailing household types in Indian villages are a function of factors internal to the village society such as the predominant subsistence patterns. …

Observations on the recent history of drug user counseling.

The drug user counselor role is explored in terms of its changing nature over the course of the past 25 years. Initially, the drug user counselor could be characterized as a professional based on his or her experience, or as an ex-addict paraprofessional in the language of that time. Working very largely with a heroin-using clientele, the counselor was the advisor and role model who could not be conned and, thereby, the essential counterpart to the mental health professionals who were entering the drug misuse field. Over time, these latter professionals based on education have become increasingly evident and the "professionals of experience" have become less so in accord with changes in the demography, drug-using characteristics, and psychological functioning of drug user clients. Nonetheless, studies that support the particular efficacy of counselors of education for all but drug user clients with significant psychopathology are lacking. Moreover, aspects of therapeutic interaction that are more largely engaged in by "professionals of experience" are threatened by the diminution in that group's numbers and the credentialing out of nontraditional job functions. Over the past few years, awareness of the significance of the contributions of "professionals of experience" has been reawakened by the threat of AIDS and the recognition of counselors' contributions to outreach and AIDS prevention counseling.

Introduction: research directed to improving women's occupational health.

This paper reviews briefly recent developments in research on women's occupational health and safety in five areas: documenting the unexpectedly heavy physical and mental workload involved in occupations traditionally assigned to women; showing the consequences for women's health of their precarious relationship to the work force; demonstrating the health effects of the double workday; studying the effects of work on those aspects of biology that are sex-specific; suggesting ways to remove ergonomic barriers to women entering non-traditional jobs which have been designed in relation to the typical male body. Suggestions are made for future research in these areas, in response to the needs of working women. This paper serves as an introduction to the volume of Women and Health dealing with women's occupational health and safety.

Minimizing Risks for Women in Non-Traditional Jobs

Minimizing Risks for Women in Non-Traditional Jobs

Providing Lead Role in Work‐Force Diversity

This paper describes the efforts of the Northwest District of the Minnesota Department of Transportation employees to implement a fair work environment culture that stresses increased employment of Indians and placement of women in nontraditional jobs. The importance of community and top staff involvement, the overall need to connect transportation objectives with other social‐economic issues, and the reaching of consensus on guiding district values are keys to providing a diverse work force for the future that will help to maintain the good quality of life that Minnesotans cherish. A key ingredient of this effort is the leadership role taken by the district as a “full community partner” in the Bemidji region. In 1985, the Northwest District established a set of beliefs that clearly identified the achievement of a fair work environment as a defined and measured work activity for all of its supervisors. This report presents the work programs, ideas, and evaluations that have occurred to date.

Comparison of the work activity of two mechanics: A woman and a man

The average Canadian woman is smaller and lighter than her male counterpart. She is less able to handle heavy weights when tested in the laboratory, although such test results may not apply in the complex conditions of real industrial surroundings. Mechanic is the fourth most common occupation of Canadian men, and is considered a classic non-traditional job for women. We examined in detail a job in a machine shop employing 1200 men and three women. One woman and ten men were assigned to rebuilding diesel engines. The woman was typical of those entering non-traditional jobs in that she was smaller, lighter and less senior than the average worker, and her grip strength, average for a woman, was less than half that of her average co-worker. She and her teammate, a man 17 cm taller with three times her grip strength, were observed for 3 days. Tasks involving exertion of physical force took up less than 4% of the workday. The woman accomplished exactly the same tasks with a similar time allocation. There were few differences in work practices. However, the difference in height, weight and availability of appropriate tools and equipment forced the woman to exert her strength in uncomfortable positions more frequently than the man, which may account for the fact that she reported more pain and difficulty than her fellow workers. Making the height of the work surface adjustable and providing appropriate tools would benefit both larger and smaller workers.

The experiences of Canadian women in trades and technology

This paper reports on several aspects of a large-scale survey and interview study of Canadian women in trades and technology. The research involved 923 women either employed or in training in trades and technology occupations. The Canadian experience is examined in light of past research on women in nontraditional job choices, and strategies to facilitate the entry of women into nontraditional occupations are described.

Job training for women: the promise and limits of public policies

1. Job Training for Women: The Problem in a Policy Context - Sharon L. Harlan and Ronnie J. Steinberg Part I: Federal Training Initiatives - Sharon L. Harlan 2. Women and Federal Job Training Policy - Sharon L. Harlan 3. The Vocational Education Option for Women - Louise Vetter 4. Job Training Opportunities for Women in the U.S. Armed Forces - M.C. Devilbiss Part II: Targeted Groups and Program Experiences - Sharon L. Harlan 5. Displaced Homemakers in the Employment and Training System - Jill Miller 6. Employment Services for Teenage Mothers - Denise F. Polit 7. Women and Public Service Employment: A Case Study in Connecticut - Elizabeth Durbin and Roger J. O'Brien 8. Office Automation Training: An Empowerment Approach - Joan Greenbaum and Sandra Watson 9. Supporting Women's Self-Employment: A New Training Option - Sara K. Gould, Deborah Stern, and Jing Lyman 10. Training Women for Jobs in Rural Economies: A Southern Experience - Leslie Lilly Part III: Training for Nontraditional Jobs - Sharon L. Harlan 11. Apprenticeship: A Route to the High Paying Skilled Trades for Women? - Robert W. Glover 12. Physical Training as a Strategy for Integrating Municipal Uniformed Services - Cynthia H. Chertos and Sarah C. Phillips 13. Expanding Occupational Choices in Michigan's Secondary Vocational Education - Elizabeth H. Giese 14. Nontraditional Training for Women: Effective Programs, Structural Barriers, and Political Hurdles - Lois Haignere and Ronnie J. Steinberg Part IV: Welfare, Workfare, and Training - Sharon L. Harlan 15. Work Programs for Welfare Recipients - Judith M. Gueron 16. Job Search Strategies for Women on Welfare - Barbara Goldman 17. Work, Training, and Welfare Reform in Massachusetts: The ET Choices Program - Alan Werner 18. Denying Independence: Barriers to the Education of Women on AFDC - Marilyn Gittell and Janice Moore Part V: Public Training for the Private Sector - Sharon L. Harlan 19. Management Training Strategies in High Tech Electronics - Nance Goldstein 20. New Directions for Employment Policy - Paul Osterman About the Contributors Index

MALE ACCEPTANCE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN: THE RESULTS OF ALTRUISTIC OR EGOISTICAL MOTIVES?

It has been argued in the past that self-interest plays an important role in the reaction of men to affirmative action programs that are designed to promote women in non-traditional jobs. In the main, this hypothesis has received limited support apparently because the conception of self-interest was understood in terms of one's private well-being. It is clear, however, that self-interest also refers to group status or position in society. In this study self-interest was measured through the concept of collective relative deprivation. The effects of relative deprivation on behalf of others, and the procedure employed to implement affirmative action programs on men's attitudes toward these programs were also assessed. One hundred and forty-five male managers or professionals participated in the study. According to predictions, results show that collective relative deprivation and preferential treatment for women have negative effects on affirmative action attitudes. Findings are thus supportive of the broader conception of self-interest and relative deprivation arguments. Finally, the positive link between relative deprivation on behalf of others and affirmative action indicates that men who disapprove of sex inequalities support these programs.

The vagaries of sex bias: Conditions regulating the undervaluation, equivaluation, and overvaluation of female job applicants

The present study sought to identify the conditions under which women are undervalued, equally valued, and overvalued relative to men when seeking nontraditional jobs. An experiment was conducted in which 241 college students reviewed the work sample of a male or female applicant for a job that was either extremely male or moderately male in sextype. In addition, the applicant was depicted as either unequivocally high in performance ability or no information about his/her performance ability was provided. As expected, results indicated that unless information of high-performance ability was provided, women's competence and likely career success were undervalued relative to men's. Also as predicted, when given high-ability information, women seeking the moderately sextyped job or the extremely sextyped job were equally valued or overvalued, respectively. Gender-related work effectiveness characterizations closely paralleled these evaluations, lending support to the idea that sex stereotypes and the cognitive distortion they promote mediate not only gender consistent but also gender contrast biases in the evaluation of women. Implications of these results, both conceptual and practical, are discussed.

Sex Ratios, Sex Role Spillover, and Sex at Work: A Comparison of Men's and Women's Experiences

Sex-role spillover is the carryover of gender-based roles into the work setting. It is exacerbated by having a highly skewed ratio of the sexes at work. The sex roles associated with the majority sex become incorporated into the work roles. In male-dominated jobs, activity, rationality, and aggressiveness are emphasized, whereas nurturance and passivity are associated with “women's work. “ The implications of sex-role spillover for sexual behavior at work was investigated through analysis of a telephone survey of working adults in Los Angeles County in 1980. Sex-role spillover affects people in traditional work by having their sex role and work role merged together, and affects people in nontraditional work by the fact that they are a visible minority and their sex does not correspond to the sex roles normally associated with their jobs. In the case of sexual behavior at work, the fallout of sex role spillover is more visibly negative for women than for men. Very few men work in nontraditional or integrated jobs. Women in traditional jobs who work a great deal with men face the problem of being seen by the men as sex objects. Women in nontraditional jobs face the problems of being visible role deviants and attract sexual overtures. Sex role spillover is not a major problem in integrated jobs because the sex ratios are fairly balanced and, hence, neither male nor female sex roles are emphasized. Therefore, there is little sexual harassment in sex-integrated jobs.

Exposure to successful women: Antidote to sex discrimination in applicant screening decisions?

This research is designed to examine the proposition that exposure to the successes of women in traditionally male occupations will mitigate against subsequent sex bias in selection decisions. Prior to making initial screening decisions about a male or female applicant for a traditionally male job, i.e., finance manager trainee, 147 college students read an editorial documenting the successful performance of an individual woman or a group of women employed in a nontraditional job that either was or was not related to the job about which the personnel recommendations were to be made. A neutral information group read an editorial unrelated to women or work. As predicted, the discrepant ratings of male and female applicants in the neutral baseline condition were significantly reduced only when the information presented concerned a group of women and there also was a direct connection between the occupation in which they were successful and the occupation for which the screening decision was being made. Additional analyses supported the idea that this effect was due to the lessening of the stereotypie attributes used to characterize the female applicants. These results suggest that although exposure to successful women in heretofore male dominated occupations can reduce sex bias in personnel selection decisions, the conditions under which this is likely to occur are very limited. The implications of these results, both theoretical and practical, are discussed.

Health status of women in the U.S. military.

This report focused on the major health-related issues concerning women in the military: pregnancy-related conditions, physical injuries and capabilities, and stress-related disorders. The most frequent reason for being hospitalized (21.9% of all hospitalizations) among Navy women who enlisted from 1974-1979 was for a pregnancy-related condition. Comparisons of injury-related hospitalizations indicated that women recruits had the highest rates across occupational groups and pay grades: women assigned to nontraditional jobs had somewhat higher admission rates for injuries than women in traditional jobs. Rates for injury- and stress-related conditions tended to decrease with increasing pay grade levels. Programs designed to improve women's physical conditioning, to enhance their job-related capabilities, and to expand their opportunities have been implemented in all branches of the military.

Women in the Workplace.

A group of distinguished authors review the economic, socio-psychological, and legal aspects of women in traditional and non-traditional jobs.

Relative Occupational Attainments of Spouses and Later Changes in Marriage and Wife's Work Experience

Using the older cohort of women in the National Longitudinal Survey, this paper analyzes whether the relative attainments of spouses at one point in time are associated with divorce, leaving the labor force, moving to a lower status job and/or moving to a traditional jobone sex-typed female-at a later time. Independent variables included wife's occupational status, husband's occupational status, the interaction between the two (relative occupational status), and whether wife is employed in a traditional or nontraditional job. The strongest finding is the importance of wife's employment in a nontraditional job (sex-typed male) as a predictor of change. Women in nontraditional jobs were more likely to become divorced, to leave the labor force, or to move to a lower status position than were women in traditional positions. In addition, many women in nontraditional jobs shifted to traditional jobs. The relative attainment of spouses further contributes to the probability of these changes, but the effects are not large.