Social Indicators of Equality for Minorities and Women - University of ...

y the majority male average prestige score yields theproportion of the majority score that is attained bythe women or minority men.As with the previous indicators, a ratio of 1.0would indicate the averages are equal, and a ratio of0.6 would indicate that the minority or femalegroup's average is 0.6 (or 60 percent) of the majoritymale score. Thus, the indicator directly represents theextent of disparity between the two groups' averages.Table 3.4 contains the averages and ratios for 1960,1970, and 1976.The prestige indicator values in table 3.4 andfigure 3.3 show that blacks, American Indians/AlaskanNatives, Mexican Americans, andPuerto Ricans of both sexes typically have much lessprestigious occupations than majority males. Bygender, the scores are virtually identical for themajority group and very similar within most of theminority groups.The high concentration of women in a fewoccupations with relatively high prestige scores, suchas secretaries and other white collar occupations,contributes to the high average prestige scores forfemales. 12 Other indicators in this report emphasizemany significant differences in the occupations ofmales and females. Therefore, this similarity inoccupational prestige scores of men and womenshould be interpreted cautiously. An indicator laterin this chapter deals specifically with the extent towhich women and minority males have occupationssimilar to majority males.None of the minority male groups shows adecrease in average prestige scores relative tomajority males. Although the changes are not verylarge and major discrepancies clearly exist, it seemsthat the trend is for minority males to be moving intomore prestigious occupations at a slow pace, but,nonetheless, at a faster rate than majority males.While the average prestige score of majority malesincreased about one percentage point during eachinterval, the other male groups' average scoresincreased more substantially. Despite more rapidmovement toward more prestigious jobs, most12 In 1973 nearly two-fifths of all women workers worked as secretaries,retail trade salesworkers, bookkeepers, private household workers, elementaryschool teachers, waitresses, typists, cashiers, sewers and stitchers, andregistered nurses. U.S., Department of Labor, Employment StandardsAdministration, Women's Bureau, 7975 Handbook on Women Workers,Bulletin 197, p. 91.13 It has been estimated, however, that it will take approximately sevengenerations for blacks and whites to have similar occupational distributions,even if discrimination were to stop immediately. See Stanley Lieberson andGlenn V. Fuguitt, "Negro-White Occupational Differences in the Absenceof Discrimination," American Journal of Sociology, vol. 73, no. 2 (September1967), pp. 188-200.eMeminority male groups still have much lower presscores than majority males.The female groups show a far different patjAlthough each minority male group had its lowestindicator value of the time series in 1960 ^highest in 1976, among the female groupsfollowing had their worst scores in 1976: MeAmerican, Puerto Rican, and majority. From1976 one of the female groups' average pregicescores actually dropped in absolute as well as relatevalues, and one group's score remained the s(Q)e.Clearly, the female groups are still in a precaaapsituation without any encouraging trend. ^Occupational MobilityDisparity of occupational prestige levels bgroups can change through two processes,persons entering the labor force may be acinto occupations that earlier either did not exiwere closed to members of their race, ethnicor sex. Through this process, successive generaof women and minority men may becomesimilar to majority males in prestige levels M&