It would be incorrect to say that women have not made huge progress in the workplace. In fact, they have achieved a lot in a relatively small period of time. It is true, however that the struggle has been real, and women have been deemed unsuitable for the job since a long time. The gender gap between the male and the female in a preeminently patriarchal society has made women the weaker and frailer subject in society, whereas men are the stronger, focused and goal-oriented living beings amongst humanity. This attitude against women has prevented even the most brilliant women from coming to the forefront and shining at jobs which men are barely able to pass through. Yet, women have worked hard to earn their place in the professional arenas of the work force, and many of them have successfully led corporations and offices and are doing quite well for themselves. Therefore, the gender gap is closing and has closed to quite an extent, though not completely covered and overcome.
Women’s acceptance into the workplace, especially the typically male-preferred occupations, came up till the late 19th and 20th century. Earlier, women only used to work at jobs which were not considered ‘manly’ hence there were a large number of women who worked in textile factories or produced goods from home because they were not allowed or deemed suitable for working outdoors with the men openly. In America and England, it was not until after the Industrial Revolution that society accepted a female to work professionally, out of the home and devoting time to another life outside the home. At this time, enormous factories sprung up that needed the labor force to work at low wages, producing products in bulk. For this task, women were seen as the ideal candidates for the job because they were hired at low wages and could be kept to work for long hours.
In the World War eras and even for some time after that, women were seen only as objects of femininity and child-bearing creatures. Their emotional and sensitive nature was the reason why their ability to think logically and make a rational decision was mocked by men, and they were considered less competent, if not incompetent by other men. Going a little back in time, England had brilliant writers and poets who produced some of the best literature of their time. But it was only after they were gone that a major fact of their literary career was unveiled- these women wrote under pseudonyms as men because a woman writer was unacceptable at the time. The idea of the female to step outside the home and pursue working side by side with men was unacceptable to the society.
The female was not allowed to go to university, have an education beyond the requirement of their domestic circle. At the beginning of schooling such as the development of private schools, girls were not allowed to study the subjects the boys did and were usually taught the domestic art. Not up till Feminist Movement and the revival of Feminism, that there came a call for providing women equality in the society. This called for equality in terms of education, freedom of work and job opportunities and earning wages the same as men because it was their humanitarian right.
In the previous times, women were only considered suitable for nurses in the field of medicine and performing surgery practicing medicine was considered out of their reach. But in 1850, this was proven wrong by Elizabeth Blackwell, who became one of the first women to graduate from medical school in the U.S and was one of the first women doctors in the country in 1850. The break from being a nurse at a workplace was shifting to doctors and surgeons, and this was only going to continue from this point onwards.
The workplace is an arena for women because they have faced much discrimination and opposition in the face of their gender and the stereotypes about the female nature. The basic most problem came with a female being a mother, a wife and her family duties and these responsibilities supersede her professional, work requirements. There were particularly such occupations which did not allow married women to enter or apply such as modeling, acting, secretary or supervisors because of the hard schedules and nature of the job. Modeling and acting are a major part of the workforce as well since males and females are required to work for them. However females who were working as models and actors could not marry or have children, and even if they were married, they had to keep their marriage a secret. Males, on the other hand, had the liberty to marry or stay in relationships with others because they were not at risk of having children or their bodies getting disfigured. Females on the other hand often got fired if they got married and they had to end their careers.
The progress in this field can be seen as many actresses and models in the present day being wives and mothers who run successful careers, even better than most men. Women were earlier discouraged from working in such a field that required them to work overtime such as supervision and even in corporate offices but with the emergence of the 20th century this trend started to decrease. The discrimination began to die down because the competence was not going to be measured on the basis of emotional dependence but on their work and performance, at which quite a lot of women succeeded.
Undoubtedly, even today women face discrimination in the workplace because of issues such as harassment or stereotypes that they would cry and break at the slightest misdoing and disappoint their workplace. Women have been undervalued, but education has stripped off all
such misgivings that they cannot work as efficiently as men. Even the changes in the hiring capacities of the workplaces have encouraged more women to apply because of the evolving ideas of bringing out the best in a workplace. Research has shown that diversity in the workplace assures better results and a more or less equal number of evenly-gendered staff can help the place to work in a competitive and fair manner.
However, even if this trend emerged, it only did so in the past few decades and not very long ago. The developed world itself is proof of this where the 1970s saw women working alongside men in offices. However since then, women have been receiving a paid wage with an increment of 48% to 64% in the total rise, and this also varies from country to country. At some places such as in southern and the eastern areas of Europe, only half the population of women works outside. However, the Nordic region has over 70% of women working outside; a figure which is roughly equal to that of men in the workplace. America also has a high rate of women working in the labor force however the numbers did go down during recession due to lack of jobs and unemployment, but they continue to rise.
The world has seen females progress in every field of life even the military, air force and has taken over firms and corporate offices. They are working as entrepreneurs and setting up their own businesses which enable them to earn as much as they want, according to their capabilities. The progress of the countries which are dependent upon the male and female workforce working together has proven quite true. America began to prosper, when after the 1970s, females were seen working outside along with their husbands, and this led the idea of dual-income couples supporting the family.
Although women have greater liberty than men when it comes to choosing their kind of job and either making a full-blown career out of it or just working to alleviate a rough patch and then to return to normal life, it is still difficult for even the professional woman to bag herself a senior position in offices very easily. Even when women and men graduate from colleges at the same time and make it to the same number of jobs equally, there are reports of women dropping out and leaving work or being stuck in the same position because they cannot compete with men. Although many of them remain at work, they still find it hard to reach the top of the ladder very quickly. However in spite of this, women have still progressed and come out far from where they were earlier. Women today run hospitals, businesses, schools and universities and even hold good political positions as well. The gender gap is not filled yet it is not very wide. Race and ethnicity also play a major role in the progress women receive but even that trend is about to change. Women’s progress has been linked to the realization of their problem-solving capacities and ability to listen to one another before proposing any answer or solution. This makes women one of the best negotiators and listeners when it comes to solving a crisis at work.
Therefore, in conclusion, the progress made by women in the workplace and the reduction of the gender gap has definitely happened and it is progressing further. To many, the difference might not be very huge, but looking back at the treatment of women in mere hiring shows that things have changed. Women are moving toward equality in the workplace, and they are being treated with respect. Even a developed nation needs both the genders to work so they can add to the country’s welfare. Moreover, females have added diversity to the workplace and improved the performance of the workplace which has encouraged females to work outside.
Work cited
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