Presenter: Katherine Ford Eastman

Faculty Sponsor: Angela Bateman

School: Cape Cod Community College

Research Area: Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies

Session: Poster Session 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM, Auditorium, A72

ABSTRACT

Socioeconomic class is a strong predictor of health and lifespan. In the United States, where access to healthcare is largely tied to full-time employment, gender inequality in the workplace has direct consequences for women’s reproductive and long-term health outcomes. Working women must navigate the dual, often conflicting expectations of the workplace and gendered expectations of womanhood and motherhood. This paper argues that pressure to be the “ideal worker” incentivizes women to delay or constrain reproduction in order to maintain career progression and access to employer-provided healthcare benefits. While more women have entered the corporate workforce at every level, their career progression continues to lag behind that of their male peers. This gendered gap is particularly evident when women deviate from expectations of uninterrupted, full-time work in order to have children. This paper takes an intersectional approach, viewing career and reproductive decisions as structurally constrained and shaped by gender, race, and class backgrounds. Because pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive care are closely tied to employer-provided insurance, workplace inequality becomes a mechanism through which corporate structures shape not only women’s financial security but also their health. Drawing on feminist theory, labor statistics, and healthcare policy analysis, the paper examines how workplace expectations and employer-based health coverage shape women’s reproductive decisions and long-term health outcomes.