ABSTRACT
The roles of women have been changing in the recent past. Women have formed movements that advocate for their rights in an effort to make the competitive like their male counterparts. The methodology aims to describe the ways in which the research has been conducted and the modes of data collection and analysis. The methods used are describe as observation, sample surveys and interviewing and administration of questionnaires The findings of the research were documented to make authentic conclusions and decisions from the study.
1. INTRODUCTION 3
2. METHODOLOGY 3
a) Study area 3
b) Data collection 3
c) Data analysis 4
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 5
4. LITERATURE REVIEW 5
5. FINDINGS 8
6. CONCLUSION 9
a) Summary 9
b) Implications of the research 9
- INTRODUCTION
In earlier days women were mostly concerned with getting a man with a good job and settling down to maintain a family. However, these roles have been changing over the recent past and women have started diversifying their preferences. In this regard, the women have started to engage themselves in role and activities that are meant to improve their welfare. In the US, women have positioned themselves to compete with their male partners in the quest for opportunities. This has made women busier in maximizing their welfare rather than waiting for men to take care of them by competing for jobs and education with their male counterparts. The study will seek to unleash the reasons as to why these roles have been changing. In this regard therefore, the study will concentrate on the women population in the area under study.
- METHODOLOGY
- Study area
The research will be carried out in Los Angeles California. The area has been chosen since it has a substantive number of women engaging in different activities to earn a living. The area under study is carefully analyzed to ensure that it has substantive information and findings that are relevant to the study. The area was chosen after a careful consideration of all the aspects in an out of the research that would influence the outcome of the study.
- Data collection
Data will be collected through various techniques such as interviews, observations, questionnaires and also through sampling. A structured interview will be conducted on a face to face basis and also on the telephone to identify the role of women and how they have change the role s over time. The interview questions are designed to be friendly so that then participants can give all the details.
Another technique is observation where field officers will be sent to observe the roles and the activities that women are engaging in. The observation will be interested in some aspects that are relevant to the study. Observation will be done by various field officers to ensure that there is no biasness in the data collection.
Administration of questionnaires will be one to the areas that are not accessible. Questionnaires will be sent by mail to women who cannot be available for physical delivery. Questionnaires are effective as they give the study a wider scope by receiving response from more people via the mail. The structure of the questionnaires are varied; there are open ended and structured questionnaires the open ended questionnaires give the respondents a chance to explain her answers s oppose to closed questionnaire. The structured questionnaire has both open and closed questions and multiple choices. This questionnaire is quite flexible and can be used to probe for more information
A sample of 1000 women will be taken to represent the population (n=1000). The women in this were considered on the basis on their role sand how they have changed with time. The women were to continue with their normal duties to avoid modification of results. Selection of the sample was done randomly without any criteria to prove the originality of the data
- Data analysis
Data analysis will be conducted to remove unnecessary information and also clean the data. In addition, the data was remodeled to provide quality conclusions in the study.
- RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study will aim to answer the following questions;
- How have the roles of women changed over time in the modern society?
- What are the causes of these changing roles of women?
- What are the effects of these changing roles of women?
- LITERATURE REVIEW
Gender appears to be part of America’s dream that is the promise to equality and has attracted many immigrants to America as well as making the citizens feel civilized. Gender equality refers to equal treatment of men and women. Women have been seen as the weaker sex and thus some roles that have by believe be seen as masculine are also seen to be too hard for them to tackle. Some other roles such leadership is assumed as for men and thus a woman would deprive her respect in by demanding them. Since the 1990s these believes have been terminated and the struggle to increase the proportion of the role played by women increased. Studies show that women have been able to acquire a representative in every position, starting from the leadership authority that is in politics, up to the lowest position of being a casual laborer. However, there have been a relatively low percentage of women in every position but it has been increasing at a very slow rate.
The government together with other nongovernmental institutions has taken the initiative to increase the amount of female labor as well as encouraging diversity. These calls for the possibility of any individual whether female or male to be able to apply for any job or vie for any political seat. To an extent women are given the first priority in some jobs where the ratio is biased, with these being extended to school admission. Previously men used to reject the idea but of late, after some women have proved to be better than men in what was referred to as masculine jobs, many Men especially those in authority have supported the idea.
The low rates of growth in the working of women can now be attributed to lack of confidence and self-drive in women. As some women have stepped forward to show their capability, a large group still holds that they need a support of a man to stand. Therefore instead of striving to get high paying jobs that are involving, a large percentage of women especially the unexposed who believe in feminism and as being home caretakers would opt for low paying jobs that allow them a lot of leisure. The topic of advocating for gender equality has been fully exploited and almost fully implemented. However the question remains how we can increase the attitude towards certain jobs in an effort to reducing their reliance on men.
Male chauvinists have associated leadership with men for a long time and more so when it comes to political seats. They look at the struggle to attain political power as improving manhood while depriving women respect. However these believe has long been forgotten in the modern era and thus resulting to increased women in leadership. The political arena has been filled with women representatives since the 1980s with almost every position having one woman. Although there has been low number of females in these positions the positions held by women have proved to be of better performance as compared to men colleagues. On the executive part of government we have female ministers and other working personnel who make crucial decisions and rule by coordinating other workers for productivity. Research has shown that those organizations led by women report low corruption levels, as well as increased efficiency a stand that makes women more effective in leadership.
At the beginning of the 19th century, women roles were looked down upon and the men dominated the work place. Men felt superior because they had a chauvinistic attitude towards women. This contributed to women to get low ranked jobs and those who got the jobs were given the poorly paid tasks, women were not allowed to work full time because they were charged with a lot of domestic chores (Sommers 23). In the early 1990s, women were expected to perform all house chores including taking care of children, cooking and cleaning the house. The women started to get jobs that paid wages at a slightly higher rate in the 1920’s to 1930’s. Before that time, men performed most of the chores at the workplace in the entire society. In case of a war or conflict, women were not allowed to get engaged in fighting as this was perceived as a habit that was only found on men. The society did not expect women to start their own business or anything that will benefit them without getting consultations from men.
In the 1800’s, women formed movements that they used to advocate for their rights. The women movements aired their grievances to the society leaders and other authoritative bodies. They started their newspapers where they communicated on how they were discriminated against and also planned for conventions and rallies. These were among the avenue that they used to ensure that they were respected and entitled to equal rights as men. Women felt that men had dominated everything and they were oppressed in a way that they rights were violated. In the entire world, women were not allowed to vote for any leaders and voting was performed by men. In the United States, women movements started to fight for a voting right and when it came to 1920, the law was amended to accommodate them to vote (Collins $ Randall 56). The 19th amendment had a role to play towards changing a lot of things to women. This is because women in the entire universe became active in politics and their power could not be undermined. The 19th amendment meant that men could not only decide without involving women and the corrupt political leaders could not be voted in by women. The amendment also led to formation of women movements which had a passion to advocate for their rights and through this they rose to power.
In the early 1900’s, women were not left to be independent of their lives and the society criticized those who lived alone. The women who were not married were ridiculed and perceived as prostitutes, while those who did not give births were considered to be outcasts. Divorce was not allowed despite women being oppressed by men (Elizabeth15). At these days, divorce is legal and when a woman is oppressed she will file a case in the court of law for a divorce. Divorce is not forbidden and this culture of resistance has been dropped in the society (The Good Wife1). It is also true that at the earlier days, women were not financially stable because they did not have avenues to get high sources of income. This has changed since then because women can now look for highly paid jobs and compete on the same platforms with women. The financial stability has helped women to fulfill their dreams. Women are not forced to certain choices and they are now free to make independent decisions.
- FINDINGS
The finding of this study indicated the observed changes in the roles and responsibilities as well as the social class of women from the traditional set up to the modern era. They include:
The position of women in leadership has actually improved from the non-capable nature, making women have the best qualities of a leader. Currently, due to the multitasking nature of the women the most efficient organizations are led by women. Women on the other hand have been involved indecision making, being given the right to vote. Moreover the reliance of women on men has drastically reduced. These have been as a result of women taking job positions without discrimination. The traditional domestic status associated with women has been eliminated and women been equated to men.
- CONCLUSION
- Summary
The research aimed at shading some light by coming up with well-defined appearance on the changing roles of women as observed. The formation of women rights movements led to the fight for equality when women advocated for their rights. The sample population gave different views and opinions which led to conclusions made. The conducted surveys have been useful in advocating equity amongst women.
- Implications of the research
The research has assisted the women rights movements to fully advocate for equality and fairness in the society. The study also makes women aware of how their changing roles are shaping their life towards a sustainable and happy existence. The research is also used by students in educational institutions in learning and conducting research.
WORK CITED
Sommers, Christina Hoff. Who Stole Feminism?. Simon & Schuster Publishing. 1994.
Coltrane, Scott and Collins, Randall. Sociology of Marriage and The Family. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1995.
Parcel, Toby L . Parents Jobs and Children's Lives. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 1994.
"The Good Wife." 26 Nov. 2001 http://www.fms12.nm.us/thacker/goodwife.html
"Upstate New York and the Women's Rights Movement". 1995. Web. 2 Nov. 2002.
