Female status attainment

When the Canadian sociologists analyzed their data on female status attainment, they also found some surprising results. First of all, native-born Canadian women with full-time jobs come from higher status family backgrounds than do their male counterparts. On the average, their fathers have nearly a year more education and hold higher-status occupations. Second, the average native-born Canadian working woman has a Higher-status occupation than do similar males.

Finally, the correlations between women’s occupational prestige and their fathers’ education and occupational prestige are much lower than for men. Moreover, these same findings have turned up in American studies; it has now become standard practice to include women in status attainment research. How can these patterns be explained?

First of all, women are less likely than men to hold full-time jobs and are especially unlikely to work the lower their work qualifications. For many married women, especially those with young children, low-paying jobs offer no real economic benefits; the costs of working (including childcare) are about equal to the wages paid. In consequence, low-paying, low-status jobs are disproportionally held by males. This fact accounts for women having jobs of higher average prestige. But women are also underrepresented in the highest-prestige jobs.

As a result their occupational prestige is limited to a narrow range than that of men, which reduces correlations with background variables. That the average working woman’s father of the average employed male can be understood in the same terms. More qualified women come from more privileged homes; the daughters of the least-educated and lowest-status fathers aren’t in full-time jobs.

In fact, the husbands of working women have occupations with higher than average prestige. This is because of a very high correspondence between the occupational prestige of husbands and wives when both are employed full-time. People who marry tend to share very similar levels of education and similar family backgrounds. Indeed, divorce and remarriage contribute to the similarity of husbands and wives in terms of occupational prestige.

These findings must not cause us to overlook the fact that women long were excluded from many occupations and are still underrepresented in elite managerial and professional careers. What they do show, however, is that within the special conditions outlined here, female status attainment does not differ much from that of men.

Saying good-bye to this world

Hospice is not a common word for Russia. The modern hospice movement – the provision of homes for terminally ill patients where they spend their last days – was born in Britain. The first among them was an establishment founded in 1967 by Lady Cicely Saunders with her own money. She named it after St. Christopher. A few years ago, on the initiative of Victor Zorza, a British journalist, hospices began to appear in this country. Today there are 22; seven of them are in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow.

Whom does the hospice provide care to? Information comes in concerning prospective patients from area outpatient clinics, or from district oncologists or general practitioners. An application must be submitted with a case report and diagnosis. Some patients need palliative institutional treatment.

Patients are only admitted here in the following cases. First, those who suffer from an intractable pain syndrome, when no home medication can help. In this event, they are placed under round-the-clock observation and an effective anesthetic plan is selected. Personnel here know that relatives of these patients need temporary relief. Second, special attention is given to lonely people and those who live in communal apartments. For the majority of them this cozy home with a quiet courtyard is a heavenly place, if it is appropriate to say so about a hospice. After spending a week or two here, many do not want to leave, regarding the discharge as an act of cruelty.

Although the furnishings and the equipment in this home for the terminally ill show that the Moscow authorities have invested considerable funds in this project, the city budget is still limited. Just like British hospices, Russian ones count on philanthropists. One firm provides writing paper; another provides flowers and someone to look after them; a fourth donated fixtures and fittings for the bathrooms.

Unlike its London counterpart, the Moscow hospice has a house call service. Doctors, nurses, a social worker, a lawyer, and a psychologist visit patients in their homes. They provide medical and social assistance, including patient care, apartment cleaning, meal preparation, buying food, assistance in executing legal documents, etc. There are a lot of things to do, and so the service tries to mobilize the patient’s relatives, neighbors, and colleagues.

Answer the questions:

1. Where was the modern hospice movement born?

2. When was the first hospice established?

3. How many hospices are there in the world today?

4. Whom does the hospice provide care to?

5. In what cases are the patients admitted to the hospice?

6. Do hospices exist on the philanthropic grounds?

7. What specialists take care of the terminally ill patients?

8. Find the information about hospices in your city.