A Look at Working Women: The Beginning and the Road Blocks Essays

As you know many things have changed since the 1960s and 1970s. For instance, women’s rights. Women rights have come a long way in education, work, family life, politics, and sports. But I am writing to remind you the importance in women’s work force. Women have always in a general manner…been under appreciated. It seemed however that sometimes needs made men realize or potential. You see during world war 2, nearly all women worked…this was directly related to the fact that men where away at war. Women worked both hard labor, and intelligent jobs. After they returned; women gave up their jobs and let men take over. Most women enjoyed the thought of a house life, but I don’t think most knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. Women

As the baby boom added to the reasons for women to stay or to return to domesticity, there were other factors at work. Not only were there more children to increase their home-based responsibilities, but there were geographical reasons that separated women from men. The suburban explosion in the late 1940s and 1950s was

Subsequently after the war female employment dropped, but during the 1950’s when Birth Control was introduced to the market female employment reached an all-time high (“people”). This was due to the views that employers held on women, they were seen as less reliable because of motherhood and their possible absence due to child birth. Furthermore, during the Baby Boom era “young women who had reared one to four children had the fear of another ten to twenty years of fertility” (“people”). Often times these young couples lived in cramped apartments due to the rising house prices (Byrant). In the long term, WWII began a long string of events that all contributed to the social advancement of

Throughout history, we can see that humans have developed quickly in almost all fields including advancements politically, scientifically, and morally. However, one of the greatest advancement, which to this day has not been fully achieved by humanity as a whole, is the equality between the two genders. Since the beginning of civilization, we come to see that all societies with an exception of a few, were mainly male dominated. Men were always seen as superior to women. Men were not just seen as the head of the household, but they were seen as the leaders and organizers of all political, social, and economic affairs for both men and women. However, as time progressed, so did women. Gradually, women were more involved in the work force due to many factors including wars and primarily due to the industrial revolution. Women took the role of nurses and hospitality workers during wars, and as the industrial revolution initiated, they began to work in factories for low pay. During the last half of the 20th century, women’s rights, referring to the social and human rights of women, became a very highly emphasized and recognized issue especially in the United States. By the 1960’s the role of women completely transformed. Women more than ever before, began to enter the paid work force, participated in protests demanding equal rights, and established organizations such as the National Organization for Women. Overtime, these feminist trends of the 1960’s that continued for the

Even though it was hard for women to receive good paying jobs, in the book The American Promise is stated that “1/3 of all American Women held jobs by the end of the 1950s. However, full-time women workers earned only 60% of what the average male worker made.” (Roark 725) Generally people preferred traditional gender roles and the family life. Not many women challenged this preference society

Introduction Women play a humongous role in today’s society, but 100 years ago that was not the case. The evolution of women in the workplace, and society in general continues to change daily. Women started joining the workforce during World War 2 (the 1940s) to fill the positions of men who were deployed in the war overseas. Women were not seen as workers before World War 2; they were seen as stay at home mothers. Women were “supposed” to stay at home cooking and cleaning.

With the rise of the modern age economic survival has become difficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle the stress of the work environment. Also driving the decision to not hire or promote women was the concern over the additional health care expenses and leave time pregnant

In the 1960s women were being recruited into the labor force in large numbers making education a necessity. As economic growth continued to rise, there were not enough men to fill all the job positions. Women were expected to stay in the kitchen but needed in the work force. The 1960s saw an increase of 19.5% in the labor force.5 The greatest increase in employment was seen in service jobs such as clerical.6 Women already dominated such jobs, but the increase in the number of these positions allowed more women to work outside the home: "…the old female-dominated occupations provided the principal vehicle for expanding women’s roles in the labor force".7

But with the civil rights movement act in 1964, feminist made their way to congress and lobbied for the injunction of gender discernment in the labor force. After much deliberation, the civil rights act was conceded with the prohibition of title VII: “equal employment opportunity.” For this reason, in 1965, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was assembled to secure the implementation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but despite all the efforts the EEOC decided that gender discrimination in the workforce was permitted. During the Third National conference of Commissions on the status of women, many of the activist for women’s rights gather at this conference requesting that the EEOC fulfilled its lawful decree and put an end to the segregation in the workforce, but they were denied under the allegation that they didn’t have any authority to do so.

Women have always had to deal with issues of inequality compared to their male counterparts. Individually, the struggle to overcome this mountain has been a daunting task, a road riddled with obstacles and disappointments at every turn. Through time, it has become clear that achieving the goal of equality would only be possible if voices were joined for a common chorus, echoing their struggles, dreams and aspirations. This need for unity of voices has led to the formation of organizations to advocate for the rights of women. Each organization may use different approaches to bring the issues to the table, which will result in some being more radical than others. Just as Martin Luther King and Malcom X were radically different in their approaches

When it comes to women and their rights many people do not know what they had to endure and fight vigorously for. With that in mind it reflects how people think about women and their rights, which is not very highly. The twentieth century was a vital period for the progress of U.S. women and how they are treated today. The part of the twentieth century that will be covered today ranges from the 1900s to the 1950s. I will discuss the employment of women in the early 1900s and speak about the conditions, pay, treatment, and other major obstacles that women faced. Along with that, I will discuss career mothers of the 1950s and how people perceived them. In closing we will discuss how women have made progress but equality has still not been presented fully to the women of the twenty-first century.

In 1920, women won the right to vote and they were gradually moving into the male-dominated labor force, but gender roles were not changing much. Due to the World War II draft, many women entered the labor force and even helped run the country. Upon the return of the veterans, many women were forced back into their homes. However, the opportunities for women were broadening and some women began making careers for themselves outside of the home. The 1960’s saw many feminist movements and in 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed by Congress which enticed more women to get out of the house and into better careers.

The commission worked to end job discrimination through legal means. The National Organization for Women (NOW), whose goal it was to give women “equality of opportunity and freedom of choice”, also fought for women’s rights and to get men and women the same job benefits. The EEOC, NOW and organizations like it assured profound change for women by allowing them a legal opportunity to file suit against discriminatory organizations. By the end of the 1960’s women significantly changed their position in society and law and overcame sexism in several ways including breaking into male-dominated fields, moderate and radical thinking, breaking down male power structures and through cultural expressions.

The article "Family Coping Strategies: Balancing Paid Employment and Domestic Labour" by Meg Luxton sheds a different view on the responsibilities laid out in family life. In today's society it's almost a necessity to have both parents working, to support a family. This fact, along with the improvement of females having independence, is the cause of the ever growing number of working women. These, along with many other statistics are showing the rapid improvement and change that woman and families are showing. Year after year we can see the dynamics of the family shifting. It is not the same anymore, that women are the housewives doing all the housework and childcare. However women still have to work to get

Professionalism and employment were once held as an allegation only for men. While men were working, women were sought out to be innocent and compassionate housewives; only caring for their homes and families rather than labouring. Throughout history the role of the working women has progressed drastically, however, the dainty and caring presentation of a woman still remains to be a flaw. This flaw has built the fundamental depiction of women in films and television, especially within the workforce such as espionage. Although espionage is considered a treacherous, exhilarating, and uncommon profession for women, it has developed into a profession with a femme fetal description rather than an independently vigorous female title.