Boston, MA, USA. Overtime work has a disproportionate affect on women in dual-earner households. Those women whose husbands work long hours are more likely to leave their jobs. The negative impacts are most likely for professionals with children. This comes from a presentation at the American Sociological Association (ASA) annual meeting.

Overall, more than 68 million women work in the civilian labor force: 63% of women work, while 54% of women work full time. Nationally, women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. [C1]

---

Facts about Working Women. US government statistics as of April 2004; calculations are based on 2002 income data. Women Employed Institute (We).

[ Download PDF ]

Washington, DC, USA. As fuel and energy costs continue to soar to record highs, a growing number of states are offering more of their public employees compressed workweeks to hold down states’ energy spending and give long-distance commuters some relief from paying high gas prices.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.(R), announcing on June 26 the most comprehensive plan in the country, ordered about 17,000 state employees to a 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. work schedule Mondays through Thursdays — a plan set to begin the first week of August and continue for at least a year. Essential services, such as highway patrols, courts, public schools and colleges, will not be affected by the changes, which are expected to save the state

Champaign, IL, USA. Women can make inroads into male-dominated management ranks as downsizing companies restructure their scaled-back workforces. John Dencker is surprised because downsizing whittles the job pool available for both men and women, but also shows that firms apparently make an effort to balance gender inequities during staff shakeups.

John Dencker, a sociologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says "It might be that they try to make up for past inequalities or they may be aware of other firms that have had legal difficulties and want to make sure they don’t run into the same problems.”

---

Corporate Restructuring and Sex Differences in Managerial Promotion. John C. Denck

Chicago, IL, USA. History reminds us that the powerless can rise up and take action. However, research often states that power leads to action and lack of power leads to inhibition. How do we reconcile these different perspectives? New research suggests that the legitimacy of the power relationship is an important determinant of whether power leads to action.

A research team led in part by Adam Galinsky of the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) sought to determine at what point the powerless rise up and take action. The findings in in Psychological Science are the first to clarify when, and lend insight into why, power leads to behavioral approach, or action.

---