Leslie Offergeld

Women entered the workforce to compensate for the lost man-power due to the draft which was the catalyst of female emancipation. Women had their right to independence and freedom by entering the workforce despite the limitation of economic freedom, wage gap discrimination, and exclusion from a multitude of jobs. By 1920, 8 million women entered the workforce and were obtaining wages while a quarter of women remained housewives (700 Foner). Women were considered tolerant, meticulous and calm, having a woman at an office would make work more pleasant and satisfactory. Post war, women were encouraged to bear and raise children, be full-time housewives, and leave their full-time jobs for the war veterans. However, women of the 1930’s did not have free will or choice - their future was already defined: going to university to prepare for marriage and meet a man that would suit their family, get married, get a house, and have children. Women were not only responsible for the family’s wellbeing and for domestic organization, but their contribution to society expanded beyond house limits. Women’s role at the time should not only be seen as housewives and perfect mothers, but also as active individuals who played a crucial part in the construction of cultural life and of social activism in the thirties. One of the main transformations experienced by working women was the new image that they had of themselves. They saw that they could be independent and that made them increasingly confident in their capacities as women and as

The women of the 1920’s were first introduced to society as a generation that spent most of their time cleaning, cooking, and nurturing their children. However, as the “Roaring 20s” came to impact the

The number of workingwomen increased by 25%. Perhaps the most iconic figure of the 1920s, the flapper became the symbol of a youth movement that championed new ideas about womanhood and appropriate female behavior. After the Great War, young women were unwilling to return to traditional female roles. Unfortunately, great numbers of married women still did not hold jobs, and roughly 10% of them worked outside of their homes. Among single women, there was a large increase in employment during this era. Some of the occupations that had always been weighted towards women were teaching, social workers, nurses, and librarians. Women who were working-class could find textile mills to be one example of factory where jobs could be found. On the farm, women helped out in a countless amount of ways, as they traditionally had.

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

Going back into America’s history, the expectations of a woman from the late 1800’s and early 1900s, were to be a good homemaker and wife. Now into the late 1900’s and 2000’s, this role has added on much more responsibility and expectations of today’s woman, such as returning to school and working a full time job, while continuing to take care of home. Though the type of work a woman can execute has changed, it also brings along societal issues. Issues such as: unequal pay wages differentiations between men and women and between different races amongst women, the concern of maternity leave and of course, the struggle of balancing work and a family.

George Guilder, author of the 1986 article “Women in the Work Force”,” writes about the growing number of women in the workforce. Women are now seeking work in fields dominated by men (Guilder). My grandma Sharon worked at Black & Decker, a company known for manufacturing household appliances. Before that, she worked at Chardon Rubber making rubber items. These jobs were typically done by men, but she stepped up to the challenge. Every passing year brings radical change to the traditional gender roles that American families thrive on (Guilder). Sharon was an example for her family. Her kids could see what a hard worker she was. “The future apparently promises yet more blurring of traditional sex roles in the workforce” (Guilder). My grandma worked a “man’s job,” challenging what people thought women

Women have come along away since the 1940’s working in factories to obtaining top corporate positions. However, leadership opportunities are limited for women. Women have already proven they could do the same work as men. In recent years, more women have risen to take leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies. For example, Mary T. Barra became the Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, one of the largest Automobile Manufacturer in North America. Women have progressed in society becoming dominant part of American workforce.

Since the beginning of time when humans began to walk the Earth women have always been stuck in the household doing things to help make the house life better and easier to live in. With women being set to only do house work they began to adopt and fine-tuned many skills that had been genetically implanted and treaded in their minds throughout the centuries. For the last 150 years women have slowly inched and fought their way into the workplace alongside men. With the beginning of the Industrial Revolution a long dormant spark in women began to finally show its true colors, and women finally understood that it was time for them to move out of the home and into the workforce with women. With the introduction of factories and better way of

The traditional role of women in society as homemakers and caretakers is universally inherent to their gender, because they bear and nurse offspring. Therefore, it has generally fallen to the men to hunt, gather, farm, and protect the women and children. However, drastic and vast changes in food and goods production during the industrial revolution, as well as the invention of time and labor saving appliances have changed centuries-old gender roles that today not only allow, but almost require, women to abandon now antiquated traditions. Women around the world are now free to choose employment once considered unsuitable for their gender, and the line between conventional roles for both women and men have been blurred or obliterated. As a result

In the United States, women hold jobs as well as hold the duty of being homemaker. “Men still enjoy considerable power and affluence...hold[ing] the highest paying and most prestigious jobs and are regarded as the primary providers and sustainers of the family” (Pitlane). Therefore, one can see similarities in the division of labor from thousands of years ago, but altered in a way that women are taking on more roles by having jobs.

Women in the private workforce hold 52% of all professional level jobs (Warner). They consist of more than half of the workforce in America but yet they still struggle to make the jump from your average employee to a leading role in a private company. Women of color struggle with the leadership gap even more in private companies. This gap is in all different professions, and even in the government, “Women today hold only twenty-four point three percent of seats in state legislatures…They are only twelve percent of governors...Women of color make up four percent of governors and five point two percent of state legislators” (Warner). Over the past decade, women have been making advances slowly to decrease this gap in leadership roles. This has been very tedious so the progress right currently has reached a standstill. Habits are one of the most challenging things to alter and, “It has been estimated that, at the current rate of change, it will take until 2085 for women to reach parity with men in key leadership roles in the United States” (Warner). Despite how long it may take, this change still needs to occur. Companies need to take a stand and realize that women are just as talented as men so that they will be able to close the leadership gap or else women will continue to struggle to move up to positions of prominence and power in America. This rate won't increase until more work is

Gender roles in society have continued to change drastically compared to the 1940’s. In 1940, women made up around 20% of the workforce in America. Women currently make up around 50% of the work force. Family structures are also changing. The number of single parents is growing and the number of two parent families is getting smaller. This is true of workforces internationally as well. Worldwide, about 70% of working age women are working outside of the home. Women even make up the majority of professional workers in many countries, compared to in the early 1950’s when women were only working jobs where the pay was low and the hours were long, holding roles such as shelf stackers, cleaners and

Despite research showing that women are hired at nearly the same rate as men, there is a significant lack of representation of female executives in corporate America. According to Kratz (2014), 56% of companies of S&P 100 companies have no women in their highest paid senior executive positions and women make up only 19% of director positions. In fact, in the S&P 100, only 8% of the highest paid senior executive positions are held by women. The statistics are alarming, yet two high-profile technology companies, Yahoo.com and Hewlett Packard, have two women in the Chief Executive Officer position, Meg Whitman and Marissa Meyar. Both Ms. Whitman and Ms. Meyar inherited prominent positions and both have had to lead significant business transformations at their respective companies under intense scrutiny and the public-eye.

In the last decades, professional situation of women has improved. The opportunities of women to get better education have grown, and so has the level of women in professional and managerial jobs that historically had been held by men. In 2001, women stood for almost 40 per cent of the worldwide labor force; yet, they had and still have to be confronted with the persisting gender pay gap and, in what considered the employment of women in senior positions, also with the “glass ceiling”.

In this paper the history of women in the workforce will be outlined, as well as the challenges they face. The changing attitudes towards women taking over family businesses will be looked at briefly, how women lead in comparison to how men lead, and a comparison of their leadership style will also be discussed.