Women in the Workforce
Research Essay
Women in the Workforce
Through history women have fought a long standing battle for equality in the workforce. There was a time that women could only do very specific gendered work for a lower wage. It was expected that women run the house, raise the kids and men went to work. Times have changed as women have fought to gain independence and equality and the right to choose what they want to do with their lives. The use of women in the workforce really began to change during World War II. For the first time women were pulled from the home and placed in factories as front line workers and given the responsibility of a man’s job and were still expected to run the home. According to the web site Holding the Line, World War II proved to be the catalyst that opened new doors for women and eventually changed the way women were regarded as a viable workforce. For the first time women left the "traditional jobs" and accomplished job tasks previously believed to be beyond their capabilities. The drastic reduction of available manpower coupled with the dire need for factory workers resulted in females being placed in physically demanding roles. The hard work, dedication and skill with which these women preformed these jobs paved the way for other. (Cambell 1999) Women have come a long way but have many more hurdles to overcome to gain true equality to men. Some examples of these hurdles are; equal pay for equal work, equal rights politically and socially. Even though it is the year 2012 and woman have been fighting for their equal rights for close to one hundred years they still have a long ways to go to be considered fully equal to males. The unions and government employers have made great efforts to have jobs that are both equally waged for men and woman regardless of who may be doing the job. “According to the Field Guide to the U.S. Economy, women only earned 80 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2002”. This quote demonstrates that as little
Women in the Workforce
Through history women have fought a long standing battle for equality in the workforce. There was a time that women could only do very specific gendered work for a lower wage. It was expected that women run the house, raise the kids and men went to work. Times have changed as women have fought to gain independence and equality and the right to choose what they want to do with their lives. The use of women in the workforce really began to change during World War II. For the first time women were pulled from the home and placed in factories as front line workers and given the responsibility of a man’s job and were still expected to run the home. According to the web site Holding the Line, World War II proved to be the catalyst that opened new doors for women and eventually changed the way women were regarded as a viable workforce. For the first time women left the "traditional jobs" and accomplished job tasks previously believed to be beyond their capabilities. The drastic reduction of available manpower coupled with the dire need for factory workers resulted in females being placed in physically demanding roles. The hard work, dedication and skill with which these women preformed these jobs paved the way for other. (Cambell 1999) Women have come a long way but have many more hurdles to overcome to gain true equality to men. Some examples of these hurdles are; equal pay for equal work, equal rights politically and socially. Even though it is the year 2012 and woman have been fighting for their equal rights for close to one hundred years they still have a long ways to go to be considered fully equal to males. The unions and government employers have made great efforts to have jobs that are both equally waged for men and woman regardless of who may be doing the job. “According to the Field Guide to the U.S. Economy, women only earned 80 cents for every dollar that men earned in 2002”. This quote demonstrates that as little