The Employment Opportunities of Women in Britain in 1914 at the Outbreak of War Women did not really have many jobs before the war started in 1914. Women were not permitted to have jobs because if they were married their loyalties ran with their husbands. This also applied if they had a child. The women's job was to make sure that the house was nice, clean and tidy for their husband to come back to and they had to cook all of the meals. Overall in life the women were expected to do all of this.
Many have claimed it is a myth and is impractical in today 's world, however, reports as recent as April of 2015 still show a gender wage gap. This can be attributed to a verity of things such as stereotypes or choice of education and in some cases discrimination. What was really astonishing was the fact women were paid less in female-dominated jobs. For this paper, I plan to explore the reasons of why women get paid less. This can relate to policies that have passed in the United States but also expectations of women workers.
Societies do not consistently define most tasks as either feminine or masculine. With industrialization the importance of muscle power is declining, thus leaving more options and gender differences to further condensed (Nolan & Lenski, 1999). Women do confront barriers in the marketplace, and in some industries, marginal pools of labor are profitable. Gender stratification is unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women. Women were denied the right to vote because many believe that women lacked sufficient intelligence and political interest.
However, the policies often put the female workers at disadvantage. Most of the working women receive less salary than the men who do the same job. Based on the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) statistics, in average, working women earn 79% of the working men’s salary in 2014 (Hill, 2015). The percentage becomes worse when race and ethnicity are added to the calculation. The term of 77 cents to a dollar is created from this wage gap between men and women workers.
Women in the work place are bearing the scars inflicted by the monster of gender discrimination which are as deep as the well of tears that has also marked their struggle. This discrimination manifests itself in various ways: while they are very much present in the workplace, they are hardly securing executive and managerial positions while being highly qualified; they are often not being paid at the same level as males for the same positions. Also, due to these gender biased blows and society’s entrenched gender gap they often times develop low self-esteem. With respect to work relations, John Stuart Mill remarks, “Millions of women are enduring the brunt of gender bias in the workplace” (67). But this quote still leaves us with an abstracted sense of what is really going on; let us take a closer look at the underbelly of gender discrimination, particularly, the snubbing of scores of women for promotion even when they are more qualified than their male counterparts.
The US has a horrible history of not upholding the rights of minority groups and women. However, women hold a status in the US that is unprecedented because women make up a large percentage of the population condoning the fact that it is not only men who oppress women, but women who oppress women. Women are not holders of telltale signs of economic mobility such as fair wages, and equal education. It is even worse for minority women. A cycle of poverty keeps many women at the low income level.
Due to the preconception that women are supposed to be submissive, society continues to prevent them from being dominant in the workplace. Traditionally women are supposed to be housewives and nurture their children, overtime these views have changed. In todays society not only are women able to be mothers but they can also work outside of their homes. Women, who are considered single mothers, do every job whether at home or at the workplace. Men see women as inferior because until the about the twentieth century women began to gain just a tad bit of independence.
“The most glaring content gap in the treaty bodies’ approach to gender equality is in the area of women’s unpaid work, particularly in relation to household reproduction and care”(Garrett). Women often started working as schoolteachers or office work after the world wars. These jobs that were offered to women were the low paying jobs with little opportunities for high paying jobs. Discrimination against women has caused the inequality we have in the world
Stereotypically, women are supposed to stay at home cooking and caring for children. This is why women are occasionally paid less than men working at the same job. This is completely unfair, because women are as capable as men and sometimes women work faster or better than men! Employers should not continue to use old stereotypical ideas that were not even applicable in the first place. When women interview for a job, employers may refuse them that job for unethical
The majority of women are working part-time, in order to interrupt for childrearing (Browne, 2006). Some economists supported the human capital theory; and claimed that the lack of commitment for women is the main reason of the drawbacks that they suffer in the labour market (Haralambos, 2004). Since women have less incentive to take lengthy training programmes; therefore they have less value to employers compared to those highly-trained male. The lack of training, experience and qualifications make women can hardly look for better-paid and higher-status jobs (Haralambos, 2004). However, the theory was being criticized that ignored the causes of gender inequality.