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perceptions of women in the workplace
effect of women in the workforce
effect of women in the workforce
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The reason women have such a difficult time in the work force is a result of the stereotypes and roles that have been forced on them. In order to succeed in the workplace a person must be ambitious, authoritative, and competent all these characteristics are used to describe men, but not women. These molds cause women to work harder in order to break away from the stereotypes. In the United States, there are subtypes of males and females that have emerged since the 1970s. For women the three subtypes are the housewife, or the traditional woman whose purpose is similar to the women in history. They raise the children and take care of the home, while the husband works. The second is the professional woman; she’s independent, ambitious, and self-confidant. The third is the Playboy bunny; also known as the sex object her sole purpose is to bring pleasure to a man. All three of these subtypes are expected to be concerned with having and caring for children. There are four male subtypes they …show more content…
Stereotypes have power as standards that people wish to conform to. They serve as a continuous filter in which society perceives an individual, and stereotype-consistent behavior stands out to people more than those who break the mold . An example being a white man who asserts himself would be remembered at promotion time, rather than an Asian woman who behaved in the same manor. Therefore, it is difficult to change stereotypes or dismantle them, and also explains the lack of women in leadership roles in companies. Stereotypes also serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy, meaning that if women are characterized with negative traits than women will observe those traits within themselves and develop them. People also conform to stereotypes so that they will be largely accepted by groups of people. Due to this stereotypes are difficult to break or
The general consensus among American citizens is that the retail industry as one of the worst jobs a person can take, just short of fast food and any job that is janitorial. There are many reasons behind this stigma that affects people both in and out of the retail industry. The perspective of the customer will always differ from that of the retail worker, with the exception of those who have worked or currently work in retail. However, just because the perspective is different, the level of respect has no reason to shift.
Stephen Bonnycastle in his criticism, In Search of Authority, explains stereotypes as, "The system (sometimes known as “the patriarchal order”) that causes the majority of men and women to take on these different roles ... hidden, like the rules of grammar in a language."(10). When a stereotype is introduced into a situation for a extended period of time, it is psychologically proven that it will become an expectation. Stereotypes prove to act as an obscuring lens into which most people view the world. When a person is unaware of a culture, race, gender they mainly use the stereotypes to judge them against. Stereotypes are not just a generalization of a group of people, "stereotypes warrant a closer analysis, because they powerfully shape the reality of gender differences..."(Brody 396). The effects of stereotypes go deeper than just male and female, race against race, "everyone is vulnerable to stereotype threat, at least in some circumstances"(reducingstereotypethreat.org). Stereotypes overall cause negative side effects, some fatal. These side effects are psychological as well as physical. People who
Many people are reluctant to admit that discrimination exists today. Stereotypes occur when people are classified by others by having something in common due to the fact that they are members of a common group or community. Gender stereotypes are still present in society today, even though many people refuse to accept that this type of stereotypes still exist. The stereotypes of women throughout history has left a lasting impression on many things, including society and literature.
It has always been a popular misconception that women are the weaker sex.1 This idea leads to the opinion that women can not possibly perform the same job requirements as men. Why should a woman seek further education when she cannot handle a job physically and psychologically in the male work force? A woman who does decide to work out of the home could not expect to earn as much as her male counterpart since she can not do the job nearly as well. History paints the picture of women staying home as homemakers where they belong. We see the ideal woman as June Cleaver from the TV sitcom Leave it to Beaver. A feminist author Betty Friedan wrote a best-selling book arguing that magazines, advertisements, educators, and social scientists portray women as happy as housewives.2The Feminine Mystique explained this portrayal of the trapped women into a life of raising children, taking care of the home, and giving no chance labor outside the home.
Plato once said “If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things” (Ferrari & Griffth, 2000). However, in today’s world women are more educated than men, bigger risk takers, and more adaptable to our modern socioeconomic trends. Yet women in the workforce still face daily struggles in acceptance. In this essay we will explore gender in the workforce, the changing nature of that workforce, gender inequalities and what measures are being taken in correcting and modelling a new working environment. We will see that more than often women are faced with the choice of maternal instincts over career options. Moreover we will see that when faced with this choice and electing the career path, women will face obstacles including bias and traditional roles.
Stereotypes are (often) untrue traits assigned to a person due to their intelligence, race or cultural beliefs just to name a few.
Women face an unofficial barrier called the glass ceiling, which limits how high a women can advance in a profession. “Women holding the titles of chairman, CEO, COO (chief operating officer), and executive vice president remain at about 7 percent of the population of executives in the United States” (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, 2009). Women seem to have more of a family-work conflict then men, so bosses don’t seem to have as much desire, to promote females compared to men (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon 939-940). Men still view women as having a social role, examples are cooking, childcare, and household chores. Men feel threatened, and scared when females are able to handle both work and their personal life. Excuses are created by men, where they believe females should focus on one role, because they won’t be able to accomplish family roles and work roles efficiently. Women can help themselves with this issue of family-work conflict, by, improving communication with their employers. Women can communicate to their employer, by explaining and clarifying their expectations on how much workload they can
The American society prevents woman from being dominant in the work place because of the fact that women are well known to be submissive. Many people joke around saying women belong in the kitchen, but up to what point is this really a joke? Commonly women are assumed to be housewives to “work” in their home kitchen and care for her children. House wives believe that no matter how arduous housework actually proves to be, they do not feel themselves to be at work.[xix] Housework is not a paid job, it is more of a responsibility burdened upon a woman. In today’s society these views have altered, women now have more job opportunities and it is normal for a woman to be employed. Although women do work, they are still seen as submissive because of the unequal treatment and salary they are given compared to men.
Social opinion, nationalized expectations, rational calculation and inequality of resources used in countries all present an increase in the overall responsibility for women (Weisbrot 31). This label given to women has been true for a long time in years of the past. “ as women entered the workforce in large numbers since the late sixties, occupations have become segregated based on the amount of felinity or masculinity in each occupation – jobs that have become more integrated for women include mail carriers, bartenders, bus drivers, and real estate agents” ( Weisbrot 43 ). This stereotype has been true but now, it tis the twenty first century. Omen have entered the workforce heavily starting in the late sixties, about 50 years, yet 21 percent of men still believe that it is a womens job to stay home and do the duties that they have done in the years past. It this fine to continue the aged stereotype and keep your wife at home if that works out in a family, but men who say this to keep up their status and not have women overtake them in their field of work are absolute cowards. These labels should not apply to todays modern
In History women were given domestic duties such as gathering, raising their children, and taking care of their families. Men were the patriarch of the home and their work is more valued in society. All though the women take on many roles such as the mother, care taker, and cook, the male takes the credit in supporting his family. This gap continued on to the work place and remained there for many decades (cite book). Throughout the 20th century, hiring, promotion, and salaries have been the three main factors that separate the men from the women in the work place . In hiring, the men are more guaranteed a
When it comes to preconceived notions there are many diversity factors, including ethnicity, race, culture, religion, gender, and age, that can all contribute to the propensity of stereotyping in the workplace. Stereotyping can cause many negative effects, it can cause people in a workplace to treat others or groups a certain way, that is because they are based on preconceived notions about that person. I personally try my best not to stereotype anyone I come in contact with, however, at one point I did stereotype an older worker. The preconceived ideas I had for this person was that due to his age he had a lower performance in the workplace, and his productivity and motivation were going to be poor. Also, that older workers are
...d women’s biological purpose has provided men a source of comparative advantage in work. It is, therefore, natural for most companies to think that women cannot be as capable as men in terms of assuming strenuous or challenging positions because women, by default, become less participative and more vulnerable when they start to have family and children. Apparently, this situation has led to various gender discriminations in the labor market.
Today’s society challenges gender behavior in many aspects. Years ago the stereotypical ‘norm’ was the male to provide for his family, and the female was to stay home and take care of the children and the home. The twentieth century was favored more toward the male verses female. Today in the twenty-first century males and females are becoming more equal. Males and females both have changed roles from the workplace to home. Females are taking on the domineering role of head of household and the livelihood of the family. While more males are staying home with the children. That was unheard of in the twentieth century. In current society, both male and female need to work outside of the home in order to make
Men have dominated the workforce for most of civilization up until their patriotic duties called away to war. All of a sudden, the women were responsible for providing for their family while the men were away. Women went to work all over America to earn an income to insure their family’s survival. Women took all sorts of jobs including assembly line positions, office jobs, and even playing professional baseball. When the men returned home from war, the women were expected to resume their place as housewives. The women who had gotten a taste of the professional life decided that they wanted to continue working. Thus, the introduction to women in a man’s working environment began. Women were not taken seriously at first, because they were stepping into a “man’s world”.
During the 18th and 19th century, patriarchy has been responsible for designing women’s role in society. Throughout history, men have been deemed as superior while women have been regarded as inferior. Society has this ideology that women are the sole laborers of a household; they were not granted the same privileges as men. In addition, women have been negatively affected by stereotyping. Women have been portrayed on television as being submissive to men. The depiction of women on television portrays the implications of a societal view of women. From a man's perspective, an ideal woman is a housewife who does all the household duties herself. However, over the years, studies have shown that gender roles have slowly advanced. Women began to challenge the traditional gender roles, and they expect that men share employment as well as tending to the household and children. The traditional roles that women were expected to play is now an ideology of the past. There is a double standard set between men and women. Women have come a long way; women began to enter the work force in jobs that men held previously. They have also changed their appearance, attitude and how they are viewed by people. Therefore, women are not to be viewed as inferior. Consequently, women went from being submissive to being assertive, influential, and successful individuals.