Why Is the Growth in the Public Sector Associated with the Crisis in Masculinity?

The word 'masculine' is derived from the Latin word 'masculus' which means 'male'. It is defined as: 'having the qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men'. Dominating, competitive, intellectual, breadwinners, provider, independent and proud, are all examples of stereotypic notions of masculinity. Sex is biological, gender is socially performed. Masculinity is a gender role associated with social status. 'In a world in which status is distributed with the pay-packet, personal self-worth and social status are inextricably entwined with employment'. Greater masculinity usually brings greater social status for males. 'A social culture evolves over time as a manifestation of evolutionary mechanism'. Concepts of masculinity, which provide beliefs about how men ought to behave, are constructed at many different levels both in society and in the minds of individuals. Clyde Franklin uses 15 traits to characterize the 'classical man'. Adventurer, breadwinner, control, money, self-reliant and warrior are some examples used by him which are used to describe the traditional standards of male behavior. Because men tend to define themselves by what they do, a man's work is an important source of social and personal identity. For example if you're at a party and you meet someone, the first thing you ask them is their name. The question that immediately follows is, 'what do you do'? If someone is very busy, it is usually misinterpreted to mean that the person is in demand, and if the person is demand it must mean he's socially respected and is believed to have a high status. Men believe that their work defines them and gives them social status and power.

'The word 'patriarchy' is often used in a vague and universalistic way to refer to male dominance in every form'. The word 'patriarch' comes from the Greek word for 'father'. Fatherhood is conceived as something powerful, something which comes with a lot of responsibilities. It is associated with superiority. Walby defines patriarchy as 'a system of interrelated structures through which men exploit women'. Like other sociological concepts, patriarchy is a contested topic. This is mainly because of the disagreements as to where it is based. Although the concept of patriarchy is slightly flawed, the structures of patriarchy in wage labor assume a special importance. Patriarchy is a world in which fathers' rule, where women have subordinate roles. In contemporary society men went to the fields to work while the women were expected to stay indoors and do the housework. Women have always been associated with domestic work. 'Around the world, women work. Men give orders'. Even today, in parts of the world this tradition is still followed. My cousin who lives in India was married when she was 18. Her husband did not let her get a job even though she was highly qualified. This was only because he believes that her place is in the house. This example shows the extent of male control and dominance in this patriarchal society, and how ideas like patriarchy and gender segregation are rooted deep in a man's mind.

The seeds of gender segregation in employment are embedded deep in the structure of our society. 'Occupational segregation by gender exists when men and women do different kinds of work, so that one can speak of two separate labor forces, one male and one female, which are not in competition with each other for the same jobs'. Heavy industries such as mining, ship-building, construction, farming and fishing are highly dominated by men and maintain their traditional image as 'men's work'. On the contrary, cleaning, nursing and clerical work are traditionally labeled as 'women's work'. This separation of tasks according to gender is often referred to as the sex-typing of jobs. While sex-typing of jobs and gender segregation of employment are very closely linked, theoretically they have different meanings. In the past, women possessing equal skills as a man and performing the same job is paid less than the man. Equal pay is a right women have been fighting for, for a long time. The main reason of this pay disparity is gender segregation.

The history of gendered jobs in Britain shows that men are concentrated in manufacturing occupations while women are concentrated in service occupations. In 2000, 53.80% (50.37% in 1997) of the service sector jobs were held by women while 78.94% (78.93% in 1997) of the manufacturing sector jobs were held by men. This clearly reveals a pattern of segregation of jobs in our society. 'Masculinity exists in various forms of power men ideally possess: the power to assert control over women, over other men, over their own bodies, over machines and technology'. The sexual division of labor has prevailed in our society since the beginning of time. It is the result of historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors. What ever the origins of the sexual division of labor may be, it is quite clear that men and women were never treated as equals. Women's work was different in content from men's work. This sexual division of labor was eulogized by Thomas Tusser in the sixteenth-century:

Good husband men must moile and toile,

To laie to live by laboured feeld:

Their wives at home must keepe such coile,

As their like actes may profit yeeld.

The recent growth in women's employment, mainly in the service sector, has led to an increase in unemployed males. These changing patterns of employment, and particularly increasing unemployment, not just in Britain but in all parts of the world, threaten masculinity. A man's tendency to over-identify himself with his work leaves him bewildered and distraught when faced with the problem of unemployment. Men have always characterized themselves as the 'breadwinner' and the 'head' of the household. When they are unable to fulfill the three main needs of their family, namely food, shelter and clothing, they are filled with a deep sense of failure. Embarrassment and grief clouds their minds. Unemployment gives a man a deep sense of failure. It hurts their ego, their pride. According to them, it leads to a degradation of social status. They feel less powerful. Unemployment, in their mind and heart, destroys part of their sense of personal identity and self-worth. Evidence reveals that unemployment is an emotional turmoil, so deep that it has a significant effect on the physical as well as their mental health. Job loss leads to increased rates of alcoholism, suicide,