Gender Equality Within The Professional World Of The Air, Natalie Keener, By Anna Kendrick

As individuals, we are all given assigned aspects that define us. Race, gender, and social class are just a few of the characteristics that make us who we are. We also choose to take on certain aspects that reflect our own interests such as careers, fashion, and fandom. When our chosen and assigned aspects come together, our own identity is formed. These parts eventually impact and affect each other with the idea of intersection. The interconnection of being a woman and belonging to a certain career cross and act on each other in ways that are mostly negative. Many women find being successful in their careers very difficult especially women who are based into a male dominated industry.

Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male

Among police, there are stark differences between male and female officers. Cara E. Rabe-Hemp researched these sex differences by conducting a series of interviews with policewomen. These interviews reveal how policewomen cope with the seemingly impossible task to find a balance between feminine values that they were raised to uphold and masculine values that their male-dominated field demands. According to the individual perspective, employees’ performance is more shaped by their unique personal experiences as opposed to standardized formal training (Britt 185). Since neither police officers’ formal training nor their subculture reduce or eliminate the differences between policemen and policewomen, sex differences have a much more significant

According to Metz (2011), women are being deprived of opportunities and being squeezed out of organisations due to preconceptions about their dedication to a long term role, based on outdated gender stereotypes. In general, women experience higher rates of harassment at work, compared to men(McLaughlin, Uggen and Blackstone 2012).

Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).

A woman is given limited freedom. Something as simple as a room could give her a sense of liberty. In Virginia Woolf's article, she claims that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Woolf suggests that having a room literally allows women to have their own space to write, but figuratively traps them in their own thoughts due to a lack of freedom. In the works of Jamaica Kincaid, Virginia Woolf, and Alice Walker, the female figures have shown how their own thoughts, reflection, and creativity could be used as a sense of freedom.

Christine Williams broadens themes developed in ‘Gender Differences At Work: Women and Men in Non-Traditional Occupations’ (Berkeley: University of California, 1989), a comparison between the effects on male nurses and female marines of working in ‘gendered occupations’, to be traditionally allied by reason of similarities in their historical development and in their gender composition . Her interviews provide fascinating evidence of how both men and women are subtly socialized into professional gender ideology. Gender roles are based on society's values and beliefs about interactions between individuals. The appropriate behavior is then expected from the specific gender. The reason behind this is, our knowledge system, in which we grew up

During “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid”, the first chapter of her book, “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”, Sheryl Sandberg discusses the continuous issue of gender equality in the workforce. Sandberg uses personal examples, sharing her own experiences as well as those of her grandmother and mother, to describe the roles that have been stereotypically designated for women. Specifically, staying at home to raise a family. Despite the increase in education for women, men hold most of the high powered positions while women work under them or take on these stereotypical roles.

To begin with three should be an examination of how “the persistence of gender ideologies” has affected equality in the workplace. As Kimmel states, “Since the early nineteenth century, the workplace has been seen as a masculine arena, where men could test and prove their manhood against other men in the dog-eat-dog marketplace” (Kimmel 249). This is still occurring

Countless women in the 1980s were discriminated based on their gender alone, so they believed in order to establish themselves they needed to act like a businessman to be heard. “Being used to having successful executives being, and therefore acting like, men teaches managers and leaders to expect women to model the same behavior.” Women that related to Kathrine Parker’s character believe they need to act like their dominate counterpart in their business, since the attitude men were giving gave them

Women today have progressed to unprecedented levels, however, in all the ways women have advanced, “There has been remarkably little change in the gender balance of some of the most common occupations for either women or men during the last forty years “(p. 5). There was a large decline in the 80’s in workplace segregation, but since then, gender integration in the workplace has been relatively stagnant. This is largely related to the gender stigmas attached to fields such as teachers or health care workers that are largely dominated by women. There is an undeniable wage penalty for working in predominately female occupations that also deters men from these fields. The Department of Labor suggests many possible policies to be made in order to tackle this issue if the goal of equal opportunity for women wishes to be

The problem of gender inequalities was found to rest within traditional organizational cultures. As a result, the research provided evidence to suggest that workforce cultures do not operate in the same way for both males and females on issues, such as promotions and leadership opportunities. Forty two percent of the respondents acknowledged that among the barriers to female professional development in the UK police force were the traditional organizational barriers which saw men as more fit to the job than women. Further, 60 percent of the women respondents interviewed viewed themselves within the bottom of the police force hierarchy and saw themselves as overworked compared to their male

For my research question I will be asking: “How is America making progress on gender equity?” Fundamentally, I believe that women are still misrepresented, and are still facing many challenges in the workplace, especially in the business world. The gender stereotypes play a considerable role in the way the society sees women as leaders. However, it will be judicious to consider the small but noticeable changes that have been made over the past years concerning gender equality in the American workplace.

Women have experienced a historic situation of inequality in the social as well as professional aspects. Women were normally the ones that would take care of children, do the chores in the house, and in rural areas; they would work in the field with the rest of the family. However, today’s women have become more self-sufficient and independent from the predominant male figure within every historical family. Gender inequality in the workplace is becoming less common; yet, gender is a factor that affects men and women. Especially women have been subjected to a historical discrimination that has influenced society to decide which job is more suitable for women than men. However women have confronted and tried to break down the barriers that

First, women in the professional world face harsh criticisms that are both portrayed in the media and rooted in Biblical interpretations. A Commercial by Pantene points out the issue of labelling. A man is labelled “boss,” while a woman is labelled “bossy”; a man staying late at work is “dedicated,” while a woman staying late at work is “selfish” (Social Voice