Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Foundation Website
  • Journal Home
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • All Issues
    • Future Issues
  • For Authors and Editors
    • Overview of RSF & How to Propose an Issue
    • RSF Style and Submission Guidelines
    • Article Submission Checklist
    • Permission Request
    • Terms of Contributor Agreement Form and Transfer of Copyright
    • RSF Contributor Agreement Form
    • Issue Editors' Agreement Form
  • About the Journal
    • Mission Statement
    • Editorial Board
    • Comments and Replies Policy
    • Journal Code of Ethics
    • Current Calls for Articles
    • Closed Calls for Articles
    • Abstracting and Indexing
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright and ISSN Information
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Publications
    • rsf

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
  • Publications
    • rsf
  • Log in
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Advanced Search

  • Foundation Website
  • Journal Home
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • All Issues
    • Future Issues
  • For Authors and Editors
    • Overview of RSF & How to Propose an Issue
    • RSF Style and Submission Guidelines
    • Article Submission Checklist
    • Permission Request
    • Terms of Contributor Agreement Form and Transfer of Copyright
    • RSF Contributor Agreement Form
    • Issue Editors' Agreement Form
  • About the Journal
    • Mission Statement
    • Editorial Board
    • Comments and Replies Policy
    • Journal Code of Ethics
    • Current Calls for Articles
    • Closed Calls for Articles
    • Abstracting and Indexing
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright and ISSN Information
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Follow rsf on Twitter
  • Visit rsf on Facebook
  • Follow rsf on Google Plus
Research Article
Open Access

When All Assistants Are Women, Are All Women Assistants? Gender Inequality and the Gender Composition of Support Roles

Hilary J. Holbrow
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences November 2022, 8 (7) 28-47; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.7.02
Hilary J. Holbrow
aAssistant professor of Japanese politics and society at Indiana University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

REFERENCES

  1. ↵
    1. Abendroth, Anja Kristin,
    2. Silvia Melzer,
    3. Alexandra Kalev, and
    4. Donald Tomaskovic-Devey
    . 2017. “Women at Work: Women’s Access to Power and the Gender Earnings Gap.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 70(1): 190–222.
    OpenUrl
  2. ↵
    1. Baruch, Yehuda, and
    2. Brooks C. Holtom
    . 2008. “Survey Response Rate Levels and Trends in Organizational Research.” Human Relations 61(8): 1139–60.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  3. ↵
    1. Brinton, Mary C
    . 1993. Women and the Economic Miracle: Gender and Work in Postwar Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  4. ↵
    1. Brinton, Mary C., and
    2. Eunmi Mun
    . 2016. “Between State and Family: Managers’ Implementation and Evaluation of Parental Leave Policies in Japan.” Socio-Economic Review 14(2): 257–81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwv021.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  5. ↵
    1. Brynin, Malcolm, and
    2. Francisco Perales
    . 2016. “Gender Wage Inequality: The De-gendering of the Occupational Structure.” European Sociological Review 32(1): 162–74.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  6. ↵
    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics
    . 2021a. “May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.” Accessed May 17, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000.
  7. ↵
    1. Bureau of Labor Statistics
    . 2021b. “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.
  8. ↵
    1. Cohen, Philip N., and
    2. Matt L. Huffman
    . 2007. “Working for the Woman? Female Managers and the Gender Wage Gap.” American Sociological Review 72(5): 681–704.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  9. ↵
    1. Costello, Carla A
    . 2015. “Women in the Trenches: Barriers to Female Staff’s Advancement in Higher Education.” Ed.D. diss., College of William and Mary.
  10. ↵
    1. The Economist
    . 2014. “Holding Back Half the Nation.” The Economist, March 29. Accessed June 8, 2022. https://www.economist.com/briefing/2014/03/29/holding-back-half-the-nation.
  11. ↵
    1. Ely, Robin J
    . 1995. “The Power in Demography: Women’s Social Constructions of Gender Identity at Work.” Academy of Management Journal 38(3): 589–634.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  12. ↵
    1. England, Paula
    . 2010. “The Gender Revolution: Uneven and Stalled.” Gender & Society 24(2): 149–66.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  13. ↵
    1. England, Paula,
    2. Paul Allison, and
    3. Yuxiao Wu
    . 2007. “Does Bad Pay Cause Occupations to Feminize, Does Feminization Reduce Pay, and How Can We Tell with Longitudinal Data?” Social Science Research 36(3): 1237–56.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  14. ↵
    1. England, Paula,
    2. Andrew Levine, and
    3. Emma Mishel
    . 2020. “Progress Toward Gender Equality in the United States Has Slowed or Stalled.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117(13): 6990–97.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  15. ↵
    1. Facebook Careers
    . 2021. “Administrative Partner.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/careers/v2/jobs/348321213242057/.
  16. ↵
    1. Feintzig, Rachel
    . 2020. “The Vanishing Executive Assistant.” Wall Street Journal, January 18. Accessed June 8, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-vanishing-executive-assistant-11579323605.
  17. ↵
    1. Goldman Sachs
    . 2019. “Womenomics 5.0.” Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/womenomics-5.0/multimedia/womenomics-5.0-report.pdf.
  18. ↵
    1. Halldén, Karin,
    2. Jenny Säve-Söderbergh, and
    3. Åsa Rosén
    . 2018. “Gender of the Immediate Manager and Women’s Wages: The Importance of Managerial Position.” Social Science Research 72: 115–33.
    OpenUrl
  19. ↵
    1. Haynes, Suyin
    . 2021. “The Global Gender Gap Will Take an Extra 36 Years to Close After the COVID-19 Pandemic, Report Finds.” Time, March 30. Accessed November 16, 2021. https://time.com/5951101/global-gender-gap-135-years/.
  20. ↵
    1. Holbrow, Hilary J
    . 2020. “Detangling Capital from Context: A Critical Investigation of Human Capital Explanations for Immigrant Wage Inequality.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 46(19): 4043–65. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2018.1527682.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  21. ↵
    1. Huffman, Matt L.,
    2. Philip N. Cohen, and
    3. Jessica Pearlman
    . 2010. “Engendering Change: Organizational Dynamics and Workplace Gender Desegregation, 1975–2005.” Administrative Science Quarterly 55(2): 255–77.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  22. ↵
    1. Hultin, Mia, and
    2. Ryszard Szulkin
    . 2003. “Mechanisms of Inequality. Unequal Access to Organizational Power and the Gender Wage Gap.” European Sociological Review 14(2): 143–59.
    OpenUrl
  23. ↵
    1. Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT)
    . 2021a. “Koyou keitaibetsu koyou shasuu 1984nen-2020nen” [Number of employees by employment type, 1984–2020]. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.jil.go.jp/kokunai/statistics/timeseries/html/g0208.html.
  24. ↵
    1. Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT)
    . 2021b. “Shokugyoubetsu shuugyou shasuu” [Number of workers by occupation]. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.jil.go.jp/kokunai/statistics/chart/html/g0006.html.
  25. ↵
    1. Kanai, Kaoru
    . 2013. “‘Tayou na seishain’ shisaku to josei no hatarakikata he no eikyou” [‘Diverse regular employee’ policy and its influence on women’s work]. Nihon Roudou Kenkyuu Zasshi 636: 63–76.
    OpenUrl
  26. ↵
    1. Kanter, Rosabeth M
    . 1993. Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.
  27. ↵
    1. Karlsson, Anette
    . 2011. “Occupational Identity in Administrative Service Work: The Aspect of Carefulness.” Gender, Work and Organization 18(S1): E132–56.
    OpenUrl
  28. ↵
    1. Kenward, Michael G., and
    2. James H. Roger
    . 1997. “Small Sample Inference for Fixed Effects from Restricted Maximum Likelihood.” Biometrics 53(3): 983–97.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science
  29. ↵
    1. Kenward, Michael G., and
    2. James H. Roger
    . 2009. “An Improved Approximation to the Precision of Fixed Effects from Restricted Maximum Likelihood.” Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 53(7): 2583–95.
    OpenUrl
  30. ↵
    1. Koenig, Biko
    . 2022. “Politicizing Status Loss Among Trump Supporters in 2020.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(6): 69–86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.6.04.
    OpenUrl
  31. ↵
    1. Koike, Kazuo
    . 1988. Understanding Industrial Relations in Modern Japan. New York: St Martin’s Press.
  32. ↵
    1. Kramer, Andrea S., and
    2. Alton B. Harris
    . 2019. It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace: Women’s Conflict at Work and the Bias That Built It. Boston, Mass.: Nicholas Brealy Publishing.
  33. ↵
    1. Kurtulus, Fidan Ana, and
    2. Donald Tomaskovic-Devey
    . 2012. “Do Female Top Managers Help Women to Advance? A Panel Study Using EEO-1 Records.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 639(1): 173–97.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  34. ↵
    1. Laufenberg, Bella
    . 2021. “ND Female Professors Share Their Stories of Success.” The Observer. March 19. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://ndsmcobserver.com/2021/03/nd-female-professors-share-their-stories-of-success/.
  35. ↵
    1. Leicht, Kevin T
    . 2022. “Inequality and the Status Window: Inequality, Conflict, and the Salience of Status Differences in Conflicts over Resources.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(6): 103–21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.6.06.
    OpenUrl
  36. ↵
    1. Maloney, E. K.,
    2. Kimberly B. Rogers, and
    3. Lynn Smith-Lovin
    . 2022. “Status as Deference: Cultural Meaning as a Source of Occupational Behavior.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(7): 70–88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.7.04.
    OpenUrl
  37. ↵
    1. Maume, David J
    . 2011. “Meet the New Boss . . . Same as the Old Boss? Female Supervisors and Subordinate Career Prospects.” Social Science Research 40(1): 287–98.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  38. ↵
    1. McKinsey & Company
    . 2021. “Mobilizing Women to Step Up as Leaders in Japan.” April 27. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/asia-pacific/mobilizing-women-to-step-up-as-leaders-in-japan.
  39. ↵
    1. McNally, Danielle
    . 2019. “Cartier’s Women’s Initiative Award Winners Prove Women Will Change the World.” Marie Clair, May 5. Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.marieclaire.com/career-advice/a27360808/cartiers-womens-initiative-awards-winners-2019/.
  40. ↵
    1. McNeish, Daniel M., and
    2. Jeffery Harring
    . 2017. “Clustered Data with Small Sample Sizes: Comparing the Performance of Model-Based and Design-Based Approaches.” Communications in Statistics—Simulation and Computation 46(2): 855–69.
    OpenUrl
  41. ↵
    1. McNeish, Daniel M., and
    2. Laura M. Stapleton
    . 2016. “The Effect of Small Sample Size on Two-Level Model Estimates: A Review and Illustration.” Educational Psychology Review 28: 295–314.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  42. ↵
    1. Melaku, Tsedale. M
    . 2019. You Don’t Look Like A Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.
  43. ↵
    1. Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare
    . 2013. “Heisei 24 nendo koyou kintou kihon chousa no gaikyou” [Overview of the 2012 basic survey of equal employment]. Accessed December 22, 2015. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/list/dl/71-24e.pdf.
  44. ↵
    1. Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare
    . 2016. “Kigyou chousa kekka gaiyou” [Summary of survey results]. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/list/dl/71-7-02.pdf.
  45. ↵
    1. Mun, Eunmi
    . 2016. “Negative Compliance as an Organizational Response to Legal Pressures: The Case of Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law.” Social Forces 94(4): 1409–37.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  46. ↵
    1. Mun, Eunmi, and
    2. Jiwook Jung
    . 2018. “Change Above the Glass Ceiling: Corporate Social Responsibility and Gender Diversity in Japanese Firms.” Administrative Science Quarterly 63(2): 409–40.
    OpenUrl
  47. ↵
    1. Nemoto, Kumiko
    . 2016. Too Few Women at the Top: The Persistence of Inequality in Japan. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
  48. ↵
    1. Niselow, Tehillah, and
    2. Lameez Omarjee
    . 2018. “Women Engineers Speak Out: From No Female Toilets to Being Mistaken for a Secretary.” News 24, August 8. Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.news24.com/fin24/Companies/Industrial/women-engineers-speak-out-from-no-female-toilets-to-being-mistaken-for-a-secretary-20180808-2.
  49. ↵
    1. Nittle, Nadra
    . 2017. “Sexism Is Rampant for Female Fashion Photographers.” Racked.com, November 30. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.racked.com/2017/11/30/16720374/photography-sexism-fashion.
  50. ↵
    1. Ono, Hiroshi
    . 2007. “Careers in Foreign-Owned Firms in Japan.” American Sociological Review 72(2): 267–90.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  51. ↵
    1. Ono, Hiroshi
    . 2018. “Why Do the Japanese Work Long Hours ?” Japan Labor Issues 2(5): 35–49.
    OpenUrl
  52. ↵
    1. Penner, Andrew M.,
    2. Harold J. Toro-Tulla, and
    3. Matt L. Huffman
    . 2012. “Do Women Managers Ameliorate Gender Differences in Wages? Evidence from a Large Grocery Retailer.” Sociological Perspectives 55(2): 365–81.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  53. ↵
    1. Ridgeway, Cecilia L
    . 1997. “Interaction and the Conservation of Gender Inequality: Considering Employment.” American Sociological Review 62(2): 218–35.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  54. ↵
    1. Ridgeway, Cecilia L
    . 2019. Status: Why Is It Everywhere? Why Does It Matter? New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
  55. ↵
    1. Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and
    2. Hazel Rose Markus
    . 2022. “The Significance of Status: What It Is and How It Shapes Inequality.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(7): 1–25. DOI: http://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.7.01.
    OpenUrl
  56. ↵
    1. Ridgeway, Cecilia L., and
    2. Lynn Smith-Lovin
    . 2002. “The Gender System and Interaction.” Annual Review of Sociology 25(1): 191–216.
    OpenUrl
  57. ↵
    1. Seeley, J. Lotus
    . 2018. “‘Show Us Your Frilly, Pink Underbelly’: Men Administrative Assistants Doing Masculinities and Femininity.” Gender, Work and Organization 25(4): 418–36.
    OpenUrl
  58. ↵
    1. Shams, Safi, and
    2. Donald Tomaskovic-Devey
    . 2019. “Racial and Gender Trends and Trajectories in Access to Managerial Jobs.” Social Science Research 80: 15–29.
    OpenUrl
  59. ↵
    1. Snijders, Tom A. B., and
    2. Roel J. Bosker
    . 2012. Multilevel Analysis: An Introduction to Basic and Advanced Multilevel Modeling, 2nd ed. London: Sage Publishers.
  60. ↵
    1. Srivastava, Sameer B., and
    2. Eliot L. Sherman
    . 2015. “Agents of Change or Cogs in the Machine? Reexamining the Influence of Female Managers on the Gender Wage Gap.” American Journal of Sociology 120(6): 1778–1808.
    OpenUrl
  61. ↵
    1. Stainback, Kevin,
    2. Sibyl Kleiner, and
    3. Sheryl Skaggs
    . 2016. “Women in Power: Undoing or Redoing the Gendered Organization?” Gender and Society 30(1): 109–35.
    OpenUrl
  62. ↵
    1. Stainback, Kevin, and
    2. Soyoung Kwon
    . 2012. “Female Leaders, Organizational Power, and Sex Segregation.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 639(1): 217–35.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  63. ↵
    1. Stojmenovska, Dragana
    . 2019. “Management Gender Composition and the Gender Pay Gap: Evidence from British Panel Data.” Gender, Work and Organization 26(5): 738–64.
    OpenUrl
  64. ↵
    1. Stojmenovska, Dragana,
    2. Stephanie Steinmetz, and
    3. Beate Volker
    . 2021. “The Gender Gap in Workplace Authority: Variation Across Types of Authority Positions.” Social Forces 100(2): 599–621.
    OpenUrl
  65. ↵
    1. Teikoku Databank
    . 2018. “Josei kanrishoku wariai ha heikin 7.2%” [Women’s average share of management positions is 7.2%]. Accessed June 10, 2018. http://www.tdb.co.jp/report/watching/press/pdf/p180805.pdf.
  66. ↵
    1. Truss, Catherine,
    2. Kerstin Alfes,
    3. Amanda Shantz, and
    4. Amanda Rosewarne
    . 2013. “Still in the Ghetto? Experiences of Secretarial Work in the 21st Century.” Gender, Work and Organization 20(4): 349–63.
    OpenUrl
  67. ↵
    1. Vial, Andrea C.,
    2. Jaime L. Napier, and
    3. Victoria L. Brescoll
    . 2016. “A Bed of Thorns: Female Leaders and the Self-Reinforcing Cycle of Illegitimacy.” Leadership Quarterly 27(3): 400–414.
    OpenUrl
  68. ↵
    1. Wheeler, Brian
    . 2015. “Lib Dem Ex-Minister Jo Swinson ‘Mistaken for Secretary.’” BBC, September 20. Accessed June 10, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34307798.
  69. ↵
    1. Wible, Pamela
    . 2016. “Female Physicians Told to Sit Down, Shut up, and Get Out of the Way During Emergencies as Patients Nearly Die.” Ideal Medical Care, October 14. Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/female-physicians-told-to-sit-down-shut-up-and-get-out-of-the-way-during-emergencies-as-patients-nearly-die/.
  70. ↵
    1. Williams, Joan C.,
    2. Erika V. Hall, and
    3. Katherine Philips
    . 2014. “Double Jeopardy? Gender Bias Against Women in Science.” Technical Report. San Francisco: University of California, Hastings College of the Law. DOI: http://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.1763.8723.
  71. ↵
    1. Wootton, Barbara H
    . 1997. “Gender Differences in Occupational Employment.” Monthly Labor Review, April 15–24.
  72. ↵
    1. The World Bank
    . 2021. “Female Share of Employment in Senior and Middle Management (%).” Data from International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database, January 29. Accessed June 4, 2021. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.SMGT.FE.ZS.
  73. ↵
    1. ZipRecruiter
    . 2021. “Director of First Impressions Job Description Sample.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.ziprecruiter.com/e/Director-of-First-Impressions-Job-Description-Sample.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 8 (7)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 8, Issue 7
1 Nov 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
When All Assistants Are Women, Are All Women Assistants? Gender Inequality and the Gender Composition of Support Roles
(Your Name) has sent you a message from RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
16 + 1 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
When All Assistants Are Women, Are All Women Assistants? Gender Inequality and the Gender Composition of Support Roles
Hilary J. Holbrow
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Nov 2022, 8 (7) 28-47; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2022.8.7.02

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
When All Assistants Are Women, Are All Women Assistants? Gender Inequality and the Gender Composition of Support Roles
Hilary J. Holbrow
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Nov 2022, 8 (7) 28-47; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2022.8.7.02
del.icio.us logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • WHY THE GENDER COMPOSITION OF SUBORDINATE JOBS MATTERS
    • THE JAPANESE CASE
    • DATA
    • ANALYTIC STRATEGY
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • inequality
  • status
  • gender
  • organizations
  • work
  • United States
  • Japan

© 2025 RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Powered by HighWire