It is odd to think that around the time our grandparents were likely graduating high school, women made up only twenty-eight percent of the workforce (not 28% of women were working, but women accounted for 28% of America’s overall workforce). By 2015, that number had risen to forty-seven percent, and is still gradually nearing the percentage of working men. This phenomenon reveals the strides made towards gender equality, as well as the paradigm shift in regards to society’s acceptance of working women.
The role women play in America’s labor force wasn’t widely acknowledged until the mid 1900s. As a result, I believe that the 1950s to the present day is a sensible time period to analyze society’s shift in thinking with regards to women pursuing careers. In my paradigm shift essay and TED talk, I will analyze what factors contributed to the increasing rate of women in the workforce, such as the role World War II and women’s rights movements. Additionally, I feel it is important to consider how this change refects America’s shifting values and expectations.
Before World War II, it was very rare for a woman to have an actual career. The few women who did work often had domestically related jobs, such as seamstresses. During the war, though, there was a huge need for women to play a more active role in America’s workforce. Jobs that had previously been filled by men were taken up by women while the men were overseas. Women began to take on more “masculine” jobs, such as working in factories or as mechanics. The government even encouraged this shift in order to keep the economy running smoothly; campaigns such as the Rosie the Riveter posters were meant to inspire women to aid their country by joining the workforce.
This shift is significant enough to merit my close analysis because of its clear relavence to modern society. Women have been fighting for equality in the workplace for decades, and that struggle has not yet diminished. By considering how the acceptance of working women has changed, aspects of the movement in the present day will likely be revealed. The stigma around career seeking women is still abundant; women are payed far less than men, are encouraged to focus on motherhood more than work, and are somewhat osctracized from fields such as engineering and computer sciences. As a result, it is extremely important to analyze the historical trends of women in the workforce in order to continue making advancements towards economic equality for women.
While there are many other aspects to consider when considering the increase of women in the work force (such as shifts in job trends), I will be focusing on examining the effects of the women’s rights movement, shifting family dynamics, and education in order to explain why women have gradually increased their presence in the workforce.
You have a very strong topic. This shift was very important to society and plays a role in gender equality. It is weird to think that before this current day, women weren’t allowed to work. Nowadays you see women all around us doing a variety of jobs, whether it is too “masculine” or not. We see how times have changed greatly over time. As stated in your post, 47% of women have a job/career. This number has significantly increased and is almost at 50%. So, for women to be working about as much as men and for women to be doing similar, if not the same jobs, why do they get paid differently? This shift helps contribute to gender equality, but is everything really equal? What do you think causes this difference? The time period that you chose to speak about seems to be a very significant time period in history because my shift is during that time bracket as well. From the 1950’s to this current day, many societal changes have occurred. The shift of women being able to work changed how society functioned and viewed women, which is a very important shift.
This is such a great topic to do your paradigm shift projects on. It’s unfortunate that this was ever an issue in the first place. The acceptance of working women has definitely been one of the biggest changes in this century and something that is still going on in today’s society. It’s crazy that just two years ago is when we as women finally yet only reached 47 percent working compared to men. If we look at this shift in a couple years from now I think that we will definitely be way above 47 percent due to the fact that divorce rates are increasing and people are also having more kids. This encourages women to be self-sufficient by going to college and getting a well-paying job. This will also lead to the competitiveness in the workforce between men and women. Speaking of competitiveness in the workforce, I think it is important to bring that up in your projects. This competitiveness is what brings a sense of men not being accepting of women receiving the same pay as them and even holding the same position as them in the workforce. I think you should also bring up the unequal pay rates when you’re talking about equality in today’s society because that is a problem we still are facing today.
Great topic, your projects are deinitely gonna come out great!
Thumbs up, Lindsey! This sounds like a productive topic for your two paradigm shift projects. You might take the concept of “working woman” as the focus for your analysis. What did it mean to be a “working woman” in the 1950s and what does it mean today?