In her presentation, a professor opens eyes to new frontier of problems for the gay and lesbian community. On April 15 in the Library Conference Room of Emerson Library, Associate professor Danielle MacCartney gave a presentation called "Sexual Orientation at Work: Preliminary Findings on Gay Men in Feminized Occupations."

The presentation, sponsored by the Women's Studies Committee, was an introduction to the initial research done by MacCartney. She explained to the audience how gays and lesbians in atypical jobs to their gender experience significant changes in wages and status compared to other jobs.

"Many say sexual orientation doesn't matter," MacCartney said. "How can they be discriminated against? Just because it's a more hidden status doesn't mean it's less important."

MacCartney showed a list of jobs usually associated with a certain gender. Stereotypically male jobs are electricians, firefighters, pilots, truck drivers, clergy and police officers.

For women the jobs were bill collectors, teachers, waiters, librarians, nurses, bank tellers and secretaries.

She said in terms of specific jobs, gay men earn less then heterosexual men, even though they perform the same and have fewer children. However, MacCartney's study also said heterosexual men in feminized jobs get more advantages and chances for higher wages, status and promotion. This situation is referred to as the "glass escalator."

Conversely, she said lesbians, depending on the definition, tend to earn more in the workplace then heterosexual women, because they are willing to work more hours, have fewer children and pursue higher levels of education.

The research question MacCartney posed to the audience was "Do gay men earn the same advantages as heterosexual men in feminized occupations?"

The interview part of her research started in December 2007, but she has been collecting literature on the subject of gays in the workplace since last year when she was at the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"I've focused on the economic consequences of being gay, but it had no context," MacCartney said. "It's one of the most important aspects of social life. Treatment in the workplace affects other parts of life."

MacCartney has interviewed 17 people, including eight lesbians, eight gay men and one male-to-female transgender. She collected samples by snowball sampling, and face-to-face and phone interviews. All interviews were recorded. Among the gay men interviewed, five were teachers and three waiters. All the men were white and between the ages of 23-37.

MacCartney said the responses from the men were split by whether they worked with children. All the men who worked with children are "closeted" or not openly gay, except for one. All the men who were in jobs not associated with children were openly gay. She said the reasons the male teachers gave for working with children are similar to answers given by women, such as nurturing and patient.

Some of the drawbacks given by the men in a feminized work environment with children were lower pay and lack of respect, while the other men justified their work by the pay, but considered their lower status a drawback. MacCartney said women in the study were also concerned with status in the workplace.

The teachers admitted they felt advantaged that they were considered a role model, but one of the teachers expressed the disadvantage of parents worrying about male teachers and the possibility of pedophilia.

In their interviews, all the closeted teachers felt they would lose their jobs if their sexuality were known, because there is no institutional environment to support sexual orientation. Some of the teachers' strategies to stay closeted were to deflect discussion and focus on the need for respect and avoidance. The men would in turn set clear boundaries between work and their personal lives.

Men who did not work with children felt disadvantaged because they had to become "superstar" workers. As a visible minority, the men felt they had to follow certain behavior patterns and achieve a higher performance level because they were continuously the object of scrutiny and considered representative of their minority. This term is referred to as "tokenism."

MacCartney said women in the workplace experience overwhelming tokenism and deal with this by withdrawing in the workplace or trying to be "one of the guys." Overall, she said lesbians are more accepted than gay men.

She theorized that broader anti-discrimination legislation would help by making gays and lesbians feel more comfortable.

As the study continues, MacCartney hopes to have the presence of more racial minorities. She plans to continue collecting samples in different regions of the country, with a goal of collecting 100 samples.

Mary Harmon-Vukic, assistant professor in the sociology department, said she found the research interesting.

"I haven't heard a lot about gay people in the workplace, so it's bringing up interesting issues," Harmon-Vukic said. "I think she'll offer an important contribution to sociology in general."

Harmon-Vukic said it's a disadvantage in many studies to get a representative sample of the population, but she said MacCartney recognizes that and will act accordingly.

Anne McIlhaney, an associate professor of English and chairwoman of the Women's Studies Committee, said she heard about MacCartney's research and found it fascinating.

"I would be in agreement that work is a big part of our lives and sexuality is a part of who we are," McIlhaney said. "The issues are related to each other."

She said she is interested to see MacCartney's research expand as she continues to explore the topic of gays in the workplace.