Pink-Collar Ghetto & Life Experience

Pink collar ghetto is a term in this article that means that many women are stuck in certain jobs, mostly low-paying jobs, and usually because of their sex. “Ghetto” is used figuratively to evoke an area, especially an urban neighborhood, where people are marginalized, often for economic and social reasons. Pink Collar denotes jobs historically held only by women (maid, secretary, waitress, etc.)

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/work/a/pink_collar_ghetto.htm

As we discussed the term pink collar jobs in class today it lead me to think about my job situation. I feel as a medical records clerk it would be considered to be a pink collar job. Yet when men worked in our environment the expectation of productivity was not the same. Whenever males would fall behind in their daily  tasks it would all of a sudden become a team effort to get them caught up. I have even seen women cover for them and it became the norm for  female co workers to  help the male before he falls behind and it becomes mandatory to get his work caught up. I even work with a Caucasian female who is well off and a step away from becoming a doctor herself. When she has conversations with a  Caucasian male about his work performance and life issues its easy for her to identify with him yet when she speaks about the African American males she has worked with in our department she views them as lazy yet we have viewed the Caucasian male doing way worst things. Like  bluntly saying what he is not going to do and kicking his feet up on the desk for longer  than his fifteen minute break (Yet receiving help from newly part-time worker because it take more than one person to complete his job). My point is that in pink collar jobs females cover for males who are probably making more than them and I think it also takes me back to our talk about privilege and how we perceive things in life. The women in this situation always said how depressed the Caucasian male was about his situation and pay. Yet I am a minority senior employee with a child so how much more depressed could he be? As long as I have worked for St. Louis University, I am just now reaching the pay level I had when working for the Special School District years ago.