¶ … Working Lives
In the last three generations in the United States, the characteristics and opportunities to be found in the workforce have changed significantly. I am currently a female college senior and although I recognize the fact that there is still a considerable amount of inequality among gender lines, there has also been a substantial improvement over previous generations. I believe that with hard work, I will be able to achieve a meaningful career that provides good compensation for me and my family. I know that I will not have to tolerate things such as sexual harassment whereas that previously was not the case. Furthermore, I believe that I can work in virtually any position that I am suited for based on my abilities, whereas my mother and grandmother were limited to what kinds of opportunities that they had based solely on their gender.
My mother worked in the court system doing paralegal work and as a court reporter. For this position, her gender actually helped her. In her career there were certain position that only to be filled by females and men did not even apply to such positions because there were certain cultural expectations that were maintained explicitly. However, even though some positions were predominantly filled by only women, there were many limitations on the positions that were available to females. For example, women were only deemed capable of doing clerical or administrative work. Furthermore, the positions that were...
The jobs that women were allowed to apply for, did not require advanced degrees. Therefore, there was less incentive for woman to pursue her education; other than the inherent benefits gain from knowledge, there was no benefit to women to have a degree. Another preconception that affect women in my mom's generation was based upon the woman's role in the household. Women were assumed to leave the workforce as soon as they started having children. In her generation it was unheard of for a man to stay home with the children and there were few opportunities for child care. Therefore it was just assumed that women would leave the workforce to begin having families and this was another incentive not to give a woman a job that required significant responsibility.
From my perspective, the conditions that my mother endured seem pretty rough. However, my mother's mother faced an even worse situation regarding employment. My grandmother emigrated from Cuba and was required to work extremely hard for everything she had. While my mother had many of the benefits of time-saving technology that modernity has provided (such as appliances like the refrigerator and the washing machine), my grandmother was expected to take care of all of the family's needs by doing everything…
