
Dr. Danya Lagos, University of California, Berkeley, Assistant Professor of
Sociology
Title: Gender Discipline at Work: Job Quality Gaps Between Transgender and Non-Binary Workers in the Retail and Service Sectors and their Cisgender Counterparts
Abstract: Although persistent gaps in job quality between cisgender men and women are well documented, less is known about gender-related job quality gaps corresponding to whether people are transgender and/or non-binary. Using survey data from the Shift Project, we analyze a sample of retail and food service workers (n = 27,478), including transgender and/or non-binary (TNB) respondents (n = 874) to compare job quality characteristics between cisgender and trans / nonbinary workers. We focus on job quality characteristics related to pay, benefits, schedule instability, work-life balance, and job satisfaction. Although we find patterned inequalities in job quality between TNB and cisgender workers in nearly all job quality characteristics, gaps in benefits, hours, and wages appear to partially stem from the relative youth of TNB workers as a group in comparison to cisgender workers. However, even after adjusting for age alongside worker demographics and human capital characteristics, and making within-firm comparisons, we find that TNB workers still report more unstable schedules, more work-life conflict, and lower job satisfaction than their cisgender counterparts. These inequalities are largest for those aspects of work over which supervisors have the most discretionary authority (scheduling instability, work-life balance), as well as those related to dignity and agency at work, as opposed to job amenities set through more centralized HR practices (wages/benefits).
To attend by zoom, register in advance: https://osu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEodOiqqzkoE9yMihkzNEciKq-sgHqf9DGH
We are no longer collecting registrations for in-person attendance.
Faculty members interested in meeting with the guest, please sign up.
Graduate students interested in having lunch with our seminar guests, please sign up.