Gender Stereotypes In Nickel And Dimed - 1636 Words

In a Low Wage World â€Å"You can’t judge a book by it’s cover†. Every day our parents tell us as children that we cannot judge things based on the first glances that we see. However, people in our society today have filled their heads with stereotypes in order to judge people and their abilities. And when hiring employees, stereotypes and first glances is all an employer sees and therefore care about. In her book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich proves that a person’s race and gender have a massive influence on the type of low-wage work a person can find, due to the stereotypes that are associated with gender and race in our society today. Ehrenreich exploits the abuse that takes on in the workplace toward minorities, which ironically†¦show more content†¦Every establishment that she applies would rather hire her as a waitress because she is white and speaks English. When applying to Hearthside, Ehrenreich even downgrades herself in order to attain a job as a housekeeper. â€Å"I mutter about being woefully out of practice as a waitress, but he’s already on to the uniform† (Ehrenreich, 16). However, even though the author attempts to prove she would not make a good waitress, her employer is already stubborn and thinks that she is more worthy as a server as opposed to a housekeeper. So why did her boss make her a waitress when she clearly wanted to be a housekeeper? Her boss made her a waitress simply, because he used stereotypes to judge the author. Therefore, her boss only saw a white woman who was better equipped with serving skills even though Ehrenreich believed she had better housekeeping s kills. Now, sadly if a fluent English speaking Hispanic applied to the same job, she would only be hired as a housekeeper. In fact, she would be rejected as a waitress for the same reason that the author couldn’t become a housekeeper; the of color her skin. In today’s society, when someone thinks of a hotel maid, they think of a Latin woman who isn’t fluent in English. It is this very stereotype that affects the type of job a low-wage job a person receives simply because of the color of their skin and not their personal abilities. In her book, Ehrenreich manifests thatShow MoreRelatedRacism, Is There A Cure? Essay1626 Words   |  7 Pagesour text book, City Lights – Urban-Suburban Life in The Global Society: Chapter 6 the Ties That bind and Chapter 10 Identity Crisis along with the Movie â€Å"Crash† and â€Å"Crazy Beautiful† and with the book â€Å"Nickel and Dimed†. The purpose is to identify the conflicts whether it be a racial , ethnic, or gender occurrence, and how they form a sense of collective identity about themselves and about the other person. 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