Discussion Along with CLA 1 Paper
voyage
WomenEmployment.edited1.docx7
Women Employment
Course Title
Student's Name
Institution Affiliation
Women Employment
Introduction
Today's generation may not understand the struggle women have had to endure before getting to be placed on the board of committee in a company or organization. A woman today is capable of running a company, let alone owning it. This did not come easy, as most women had to fight for their place and struggle for their independence and position. An article by the International Labor Office states that today's labor force is made up of forty percent of women. The article goes ahead to state that most of these women have actively engaged in productive employment, leading to not only long-term sustainability but also faster economic growth. However, this is not to say that women have made it, not yet, as there are still challenges and milestones that they are yet to conquer. This paper is designed to discuss the changes that have taken place in the last fifty years concerning women employment.
Background
July 1848 is marked as the foundation towards women fighting for their own independence and position in society. This was through the Seneca Falls convention, the first-ever women convention to be held by women and for women. The convention launched the women's suffrage movement, which came through eleven resolutions. This included disregarding laws that made men superior to women, giving them equal rights to women access to jobs and attending church (Ruiz, 2020). One of the organizers of the convention Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in the highlights of her interviews, stated that she fought for women to be allowed access to the mainstream of American society. Initially, women were only assigned domestic roles with no right to employment, no right to vote, and no voice regarding who to marry or how the marriage should be.
Access to the mainstream of American society meant that women could be allowed to have a decent education, pursue a professional life, engage in politics, and even own property. As the employment laws would have it, for women to be employed or to be allowed to pursue employment, they had to have quality education. Lucas (2016) states that Cambridge university did not validate women for a degree until 1947. This means that though laws had been passed to allow women to fit in the society, so much had to be done to enable other stakeholders to comply. As a result of this, most women continued to endure low-paid jobs due to their lack of higher education. The few lucky ones that had access to higher education were still paid less than their counterparts despite playing the same role within an organization. However, this soon changed in the 20th century as the small steps and wins finally paid off.
Problem Statement
To help understand the position women are in the workforce today, it would be essential to review the changes that have taken place in the workforce regarding women in employment within the last fifty years. This would help understand the milestones women have had to endure, where they are today and what the future holds for them. Celebrating the role women play in the workforce does not in any way mean that women have entirely been accepted in the employment; it basically means that they are not where they used to be, but they are not yet where they would want to be. To enable them to get to where they would desire to be, it would be essential to review articles published for the last few years as well as get to clear view from women who have in one way or another like Elizabeth Cady played a role in positioning women better in the workforce and the society at large.
Objectives
One of the objectives of this paper is to review how the workforce has opened for women in the last fifty years. This includes the journey, the milestones, the challenges and the opportunities that have risen in the past
Once the journey is reviewed, the other objective would be to identify the role other women or circumstances have played to position women in the workforce. This is because women did not just wake up one day to find themselves where they are today.
Identifying the challenges they are facing today would help shape the workforce for women in the years to come. It would be essential to appreciate the fact that today's opportunities are a result of challenges that were conquered in the years before. This means to strengthen the workforce for women in the future, today's problems have to be identified.
The other objective is to recognize women all over the world who have played a fundamental role in giving glory to women. This could be in the social scene, economic scene, political scene, or spiritual scene. Not all, but some of these women will be recognized for the role and the inspiration they have played toward revolutionizing the workforce for women.
To bring all the information obtained to a close, the data used will be applied to offer a prediction of what to expect or the changes that are yet to come in the near future towards the promotion of women's employment. This can always be taken up by other scholars who could use it to broaden or build up in their research revolving around the same problem statement.
Literature Review
The type of research to be used will be based mostly on secondary data from peer-reviewed articles containing relevant information regarding women in the labor force, women in the workforce, or the journey altogether. A literature review would be fundamental since the research paper is based on what has already passed. However, primary data will also be obtained by women in the workforce, especially those in a field that was initially viewed only to fit the male gender. Getting their views will help highlight the wins, the challenges, and give a prediction of the future.
In reviewing the women's journey in employment, Kergroach (2017) states that the labor market in the 20th century took a shift, creating more opportunities for office work, which required less labor. This is what allowed the tertiary schools to open up their doors for women to pursue higher education. In America, the shift accommodated women form the age of twenty-five years to forty years. During America's census in 1985, more than half of women ranging between those age groups had been listed in the workforce. As this progressed, so did the working hours and job opportunities continue to increase. Soon enough, women started to take up jobs that were tagged as men's jobs. By 1989, close to eighty percent of jobs like bar tendering had been taken up by women and others that were labeled as women jobs like flight attendants and taking care of kids at home had been taken up by men (Hardey, 2019).
A review of the United Nations World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995, appreciated the fact that women employment ratio to the population had by far increased. However, the ratio was still lower than that of men (Lai, 2016). Yes, women had been recognized in the workforce, yes women were doing better, but even the ratio was not yet close to that of men. Women compensation, a chance to formal education, sex segregation, and women barriers were still challenges that were being experienced then. Now in the year 2020, these too remain as some of the challenges that women in employment continue to face, especially sex segregation and women compensation (Cobble, 2020).
Research Design
Sources of Data
Gendered jobs are said to be on a decline as the labor force is continuing to diversify, yet stereotypes still remain. There is no better way of acquiring relevant primary data other than from women working in jobs that were initially tagged as men's jobs. Cobble (2020) states jobs like engineering, web developers, scientists, actuaries, pilots, and information security analysts were jobs that were traditionally "gendered," It is from these fields that the paper will derive primary data from. Not sure where the research may lead to, there is no specific procedure for acquiring participants other than booking appointments and scheduling interviews.
The interviews will be particular and straight to the point of ensuring that the participants don't feel intimidated or their time wasted. The interviews will derive questions from the objectives. These will include their views on how the workforce has opened up for women in employment, mention of some of the women they look up to, the role they have or maybe playing to strengthen women in the profession, identify the challenges that currently are being experienced by women in the workforce today, recognition of other women in the workforce and give a prediction of the future concerning women employment.
It would be essential to note that the data will only be collected from women in the fields stated. This will include five women as scientists, five as web-developers, five as actuaries, five as information analysts, five as information security analysts, and five as pilots. Due to the complexity and the unfamiliarity of these participants, a letter from the school shall be requested to allow the participants to give way for the brief interview. The data will be sourced from a total of thirty professionals. In terms of location, there is no specific location where the study will be directed to; this is because of the ambiguity of sourcing the participants. However, all the participants will be American based to ensure that the information adds up with that obtained from the articles used.
In analyzing the information obtained from the primary sources, scholarly articles will be used. Karoly, Panis and Panis (2014) celebrate women in business and gives an overlook of what the future may hold for them. Such information will, in one way or another, be used to provide a projection of how the future looks like for women in employment. Heathfield (2017) also gives a forecast of a possible fact of women overtaking men in the future within the workforce. In the article, it is also stated that in December 2016, the United States, for the first time in ten years, women held more positions than men.
Conclusion
Going through the change in women's employment within the last fifty years seems like a success story with several stakeholders chip in. Some like Elizabeth Cady did not live to see how much their efforts had paid off, but the struggles and the risk they took will forever be echoed. In the move and the progress taking place in society today concerning women employment, the future workforce may be made up of more women in work than men. However, this should not be a competition but a motion of inclusion and equality.
References
Cobble, D. S. (2020). The Other ILO Founders: 1919 and Its Legacies. In Women's ILO (pp. 27-49). Brill.
Gender and Employment https://www.ilo.org › publicPDF Web results Gender and Employment - ILO Retrieved 18/07/2020
Hardey, M. (2019). The Culture of Women in Tech: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. Emerald Group Publishing.
Heathfield, S. M. (2017). Women and work: Then, now, and predicting the future for women in the workplace. Human Resources.
Karoly, L. A., Panis, C., & Panis, C. (2014). The 21st century at work: Forces shaping the future workforce and workplace in the United States. Rand Corporation.
Kergroach, S. (2017). Industry 4.0: New challenges and opportunities for the labor market. Форсайт, 11(4)
Lucas, C. J. (2016). American higher education: A history. Springer.
