What Are Pink-Collar Jobs? History of Pink-Collar Work

Pink-collar work signifies jobs women primarily occupy in the workforce, such as school teachers, housekeepers, and florists. While society in the United States has made advancements in areas of gender equality, the Bureau of Labor Statistics still reports women chiefly inhabit many traditional pink-collar jobs.

Social critic Louise Kapp Howe introduced the term “pink collar” in the 1970s to describe jobs society associates with women’s work. The color pink, which society has long associated with women, heightens the visibility of female workers but also reinforces gender stereotypes.

The history of pink-collar jobs in the US began during World War II and continues to shift.

• World War II: Women in the US first entered the workforce en masse during World War II. With men serving overseas, women worked in factories to make parts for the war. The end of the war brought men home, beginning the suburban sprawl and the birth of the baby boomers.
• Second-wave feminism: Some women continued to inhabit domestic roles after the war. Others participated in the second-wave feminist efforts of the 1960s to advocate for equal pay and more positions in the workforce, among other equities.
• Gender roles: Pink-collar careers started to rise as more women began attending college and sought work, even though that work was still less lucrative than that of their male counterparts. Pink-collar jobs reinforced gender roles: society saw women as matronly caretakers, leading them to develop careers as kindergarten teachers, flight attendants, and waitresses.
• Workplace equality: Women’s rights in and out of the workplace continue to be hot-button social issues; this has increased awareness of professional inequities and widened accessibility for women seeking equal-paying jobs. Today, many women are high-level executives, office workers, healthcare professionals, attorneys, and other types of senior-level professionals. Many women also pursue STEM careers as scientists and robotic technicians.

Pink-collar jobs tend to be lower-paying and women-dominated, such as careers in the service and caregiving industries. Female-dominated positions include:

• Beauticians
• Daycare teachers
• Dental assistants
• Flight attendants
• Florists
• School teachers
• Hair stylists
• Home decorators
• Housekeepers
• Interior designers
• Maids
• Nurses
• Servers
• Social workers
• Teachers

There are several differences between pink-collar jobs, blue-collar jobs, and white-collar jobs. These job classifications differ in the following areas:

• Dress code: In gender stereotypes, pink is a color society associates with women, and blue is one it associates with men. In job classifications, these colors also delineate employees’ genders. Pink-collar jobs, therefore, is a reference to jobs that women primarily fill. The term blue-collar jobs refers to the color of the clothing these workers wear—darker clothes, such as denim, on which stains and mud won’t easily show—since they tend to work on construction sites or in fields. White-collar workers wear white button-down shirts to their office jobs.
• Pay: Generally, pink-collar jobs offer lower pay than white-collar workers’ salaries. Blue-collar workers typically receive an hourly wage, while white-collar workers receive a salary or payment on a per-project basis. Historically, white-collar jobs have offered more opportunities for advancement.
• Work environment: Blue-collar work is usually outdoors, while pink-collar workers, like nurses and teachers, work indoors in hospitals, schools, daycares, and other female-dominated work environments. White-collar jobs are more specialized and usually take place in an office setting (though some white-collar jobs, like a real estate agent, can require client meetings outside of the office environment). White-collar jobs are less physically demanding than pink-collar and blue-collar jobs. Today, men and women might work pink-collar or blue-collar jobs, though gender stereotypes remain, and both types of jobs still pay less than white-collar ones.

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