PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Men benefit more than women from having authority on the job

2013-03-26
(Press-News.org) Having more authority in the workplace comes with many rewards – including greater forms of job control and higher earnings. However, according to new research out of the University of Toronto, the benefits are not evenly distributed for women and men.

Sociologist Scott Schieman, lead author of the study, found key differences between men and women in both the levels and implications of greater job authority. First, roughly 24 per cent of men report managerial authority compared to only 16 per cent of women. Moreover, the association between managerial authority and job autonomy is stronger among men compared to women. In other words, men who achieved the highest levels of structural power– within a broad range of different occupations–are more likely to perceive their jobs as more autonomous and influential. When they shared the same high level of authority in the workplace, men are more likely than women to feel they have decision-making freedom and greater influence about what happens on the job.

The study also replicates the long-standing pattern that, at the same level of managerial authority, women tend to earn less income than men. By contrast, the authors did not find any evidence that the rewards of job authority differed for older versus younger workers.

Schieman and his colleagues Markus Schafer and Ph.D. student Mitch McIvor measured a range of work conditions using data from the Canadian Work, Stress, and Health Study (CAN-WSH), a large national survey of Canadian workers. To assess levels of job authority, they asked study participants: "Do you supervise or manage anyone as part of your job?" "Do you influence or set the rate of pay received by others?" and "Do you have the authority to hire or fire others?" Workers with both supervisory and sanctioning responsibilities were classified as having "managerial authority."

"Forms of job control – especially job autonomy – are highly coveted resources for many workers," says Schieman. "We know that job resources like authority and autonomy or income tend to bundle together. And yet, our research suggests that the bundling of these job rewards continue to differ for women and men." Their analyses ruled out the possibility that differences in occupation level, job sector, work hours, job stress, and marital or parental statuses might be producing these differences.

Schieman sees these findings as relevant for the current debate stirred up by Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead "Our findings shed new light on an age-old question: Who benefits more from authority in the workplace? The patterns we discover suggest that even when women 'lean in' and attain greater authority at work, the structural features of power have different consequences for the subjective experience of autonomy and influence in ways that favour men. This corroborates Sandberg's claims about the differential distribution of access to, and the rewards of, higher-status positions."

### The study, The Rewards of Authority in the Workplace: Do Gender and Age Matter?, is published in the Spring 2013 issue of the journal Sociological Perspectives. (http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2012.56.1.75)

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Scott Schieman
Department of Sociology
University of Toronto
scott.schieman@utoronto.ca
416-830-1441
Twitter: @ScottSchiemanUT

Christine Elias
Communications
Faculty of Arts & Science
University of Toronto
416-946-5499
Twitter: @UTArtSci END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New study identifies unique mechanisms of antibiotic resistance

2013-03-26
BOSTON (March 26, 2013) — As public health authorities across the globe grapple with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, Tufts University School of Medicine microbiologists and colleagues have identified the unique resistance mechanisms of a clinical isolate of E. coli resistant to carbapenems. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics used as a last resort for the treatment of disease-causing bacteria, including E. coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause serious illness and even death. Infections involving resistant strains fail to respond to antibiotic ...

Researchers find novel way plants pass traits to next generation

2013-03-26
COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next – at least in plants – without following the accepted rules of genetics. Scientists have shown that an enzyme in corn responsible for reading information from DNA can prompt unexpected changes in gene activity – an example of epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to modifications in the genome that don't directly affect DNA sequences. Though some evidence has suggested that epigenetic changes can bypass DNA's influence to carry on from one generation to the next, this ...

Appetite genes are key to better diets for poultry, study shows

2013-03-26
The welfare of poultry could be improved by a discovery about how chickens regulate their appetites. Scientists have identified how a chicken's genetic make-up can affect the signals sent from its stomach to its brain that tell a chicken when it has had enough to eat. Poultry farmers often have to restrict food for chickens because some birds are insensitive to feelings of fullness and can overeat, affecting their ability to reproduce. The study could make it easier to develop methods to develop diets that reduce excess growth more naturally in these birds. Researchers ...

Fruit flies fed organic diets are healthier than flies fed nonorganic diets, study finds

2013-03-26
VIDEO: Biology researchers at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, wanted to know if organic food is healthier than conventionally grown food. To test that, they fed one group of fruit flies an... Click here for more information. A new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic versus non-organic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet. The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes ...

LRO's LAMP ultraviolet spectrograph observes mercury and hydrogen in GRAIL impact plumes

2013-03-26
When NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft made their final descent for impact onto the Moon's surface last December, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's sophisticated payload was in position to observe the effects. As plumes of gas rose from the impacts, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard LRO detected the presence of mercury and hydrogen and measured their time evolution as the gas rapidly expanded into the vacuum of space at near-escape velocities. NASA intentionally crashed the GRAIL twins onto the Moon on Dec. 17, 2012, following successful prime and extended science ...

AGU journal highlights -- Mar. 26, 2013

2013-03-26
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets (JGR-P), Space Weather (SW), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, (JGR-G). In this release: 1. Global fires after the asteroid impact probably caused the K-Pg extinction 2. Predicting fire activity using terrestrial water storage data 3. Monitoring subsidence and vent wall collapse on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii 4. Italian all-sky imager tracks auroral red arcs over Europe 5. Nonnative ...

A big gulp: Patients with swallowing difficulties could soon be more effectively tested

2013-03-26
PITTSBURGH—Those suffering from swallowing difficulties, especially stroke patients, could be evaluated more efficiently and noninvasively thanks to research under way at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Toronto. Ervin Sejdic, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, is developing a small sensor that's externally placed on the neck near the thyroid and records how a person swallows. The primary author of a study on the sensor published online in IEEE Transactions of Biomedical Engineering, Sejdic ...

Major advance in understanding risky but effective multiple sclerosis treatment

2013-03-26
A new study by Multiple Sclerosis researchers at three leading Canadian centres addresses why bone marrow transplantation (BMT) has positive results in patients with particularly aggressive forms of MS. The transplantation treatment, which is performed as part of a clinical trial and carries potentially serious risks, virtually stops all new relapsing activity as observed upon clinical examination and brain MRI scans. The study reveals how the immune system changes as a result of the transplantation. Specifically, a sub-set of T cells in the immune system known as Th17 ...

Endangered lemurs' genomes sequenced

2013-03-26
For the first time, the complete genomes of three populations of aye-ayes--a type of lemur--have been sequenced and analyzed. The results of the genome-sequence analyses are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research was led by George Perry, an anthropologist and biologist at Penn State University; Webb Miller, a biologist and computer scientist and engineer at Penn State; and Edward Louis of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha, Neb., and Director of the Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership. The aye-aye--a ...

Researchers find novel mechanism regulating replication of insulin-producing beta cells

2013-03-26
Bringing scientists a step closer to new treatments for diabetes, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and The Mount Sinai Medical Center have discovered a novel mechanism that regulates the replication of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The findings were recently published online ahead of print in Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. Regenerating beta cells to restore insulin production has moved to center stage in the quest for therapies for both Type 1 and 2 diabetes, said lead author Nathalie Fiaschi-Taesch, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Smarter tools for policymakers: Notre Dame researchers target urban carbon emissions, building by building

Here’s how we help an iconic California fish survive the gauntlet of today’s highly modified waterways

New technique can dramatically improve laser linewidth

Forest trees and microbes choreograph their hunt for a ‘balanced diet’ under elevated CO2

Beyond health: The political effects of infectious disease outbreaks

For tastier and hardier citrus, researchers built a tool for probing plant metabolism

Stay hydrated: New sensor knows when you need a drink

Quantum internet meets space-time in this new ingenious idea

Soil erosion in mountain environments accelerated by agro-pastoral activities for 3,800 years

Optogenetic platform illuminates new antiviral strategies

A new theory explaining oscillations in tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR)

Early antibiotics alter immune function in infants

With the second grant to therapy

Research center developing digital twins for manufacturing

Colombia’s biofortified rice has untapped potential to improve nutrition. And consumers want it

Study shows pregnancy can significantly worsen risk of serious brain injury in women with arteriovenous malformations

Mapping important infrastructure could aid emergency response after hurricanes

Nighttime pistachio snacking may reshape gut microbiome in prediabetic adults

Friendship promotes neural and behavioral similarity

Neural pathway for nicotine withdrawal symptoms

How your DNA reveals your true age with astonishing accuracy

First electronic–photonic quantum chip created in commercial foundry

High-performance scientific computing can compute molecule ground-state energy

Cryo-electron microscopy – Reaction cycle of an enzyme for CO2 fixation decoded

Feeling more extroverted? Study finds you may have learned how to handle daily stress better

Kindness counts—even to a five-day-old baby

Endocrine Society guideline calls for increased screening for common cause of high blood pressure

Macromolecular gene delivery systems: advancing non-viral therapeutics with synthetic and natural polymers

Study finds political instability, environmental conditions, and social inequality accelerate aging

New insights into malaria: Proteins in the blood can reveal the severity of the disease

[Press-News.org] Men benefit more than women from having authority on the job