Men and Women earlier times vs. today
Women and Men are different based on the unique sexual characteristics that exist amongst the two groups. Moreover, what the society considers appropriate for men is different from those it considers appropriate for women. For a long period, differences between men and women were defined based on sexism whereby men were perceived to be more superior to women. In the past, the roles played by women were exceptionally different from those of men. However, in the recent past, this has changed; it is not peculiar finding women and men performing the same tasks.
A large proportion of women are getting more involved in workforce contrary to previous eras where women were only involved in traditional female oriented jobs (home-based/house hold chores). Women are now engaging in wage employment sectors including those previously perceived to be male oriented. Participation of women in the workforce has led to women pursuing careers related to their workforce. This has led to increased competition amongst men and women for career opportunities contrary to previous regimes whereby men were thought to be more competent and earned more job opportunities than women, as women employees were not taken seriously by their employers. In earlier times, women were allocated low-paying career jobs, but today all employment opportunities are evenly distributed amongst both genders based on individual competency and performance.
In earlier years, men aged at twenty-five years were most likely to have completed their collage education or more in contrast to women of the same age. Today, men and women of the specified age are more probably sharing the same education level, as levels of women graduating from college have significantly increased. Arguably, this can be attributed to general cultural change, allowing the girl-child to access education, which was not like this in earlier times. In sum, the proportions of educated women and men are almost becoming balanced, and women may soon represent a larger proportion of the educated than men.
The gender gap in earnings is slowly narrowing. For example in the year 1979, the average full time employed women earned sixty-two percent of the weekly wages earned by men (Galinsky, Aumann & Bond, August 2011). As of the year 2007, an average full-time employed woman earned eighty percent of what women earned on a weekly basis (Galinsky, Aumann & Bond, August 2011). This is a tremendous increase, though the gap is still significant. Women in earlier days engaged in part-time jobs in order to accomplish their family and work responsibilities, thus; they earned less than men, who worked on a full time basis. Today, women are engaging in full time employment basis since work and family responsibilities are now being shared equally amongst both genders thus employment earnings are more or less the same.
Women of today are transforming to become household heads, as opposed to earlier days when men were the sole family heads. As women’s academic achievements and work experience continue to grow, they are likely to have greater earnings potential and earning expectations in the future. Moreover, as women’s earnings increase, their contribution to family income becomes necessary, which has led to the eventual allocation of all household responsibilities, thus, making women the household heads.
References
Galinsky, E., Aumann, K. & Bond, J. (August, 2011). Times are changing: Gender and
generation at
work and at home. Families and work institute.
Hammer, Y., E. (2011). Psychology applied to modern life: adjustment in the 21st century.
Belmont: Cengage Learning publisher.
