Women’s Role in Society Past and Present

The question of gender equality has been debated about for many decades in different countries of the world. In the previous years of our history, this question has not been as sharp as nowadays. It was considered normal that women had lesser rights and occupied lower positions on the social ladder. In fact, in many countries, women were treated as the property of men and therefore it was justified that husbands abused their wives. Although women have been at a disadvantage since the beginning, progress for women is happening. Many similarities and differences exist among, household gender roles, politics, adn work as comparing women in the present day and decades before. Good introduction

As we compare women in the 1950’s to women in the present day, we see similarities between women’s roles at home with the amount of effort to maintain a household and differences in workforce positions. In the 1950s, women felt tremendous societal pressure to focus their aspirations on a wedding ring. The U.S. marriage rate was at an all-time high and couples were tying the knot younger than ever before. Although women had other aspirations in life, the culture and media at the time was that a husband was far more important for a young woman than a college degree.Although marriage is a goal for many women in the future it is not a priority straight after high school as it once was in the 1950s. Today over 40% of women are optimistic to continue their education not only in college but in trade school, while marriage and children remain somewhere in the future. Although others may argue home life have changed for women, the similarity remains between the amount of chores that woman does in comparison to men.Women are still doing the majority of housework when living with a male partner, a new study has found .According to the University College London nice! You cite your source...good job!“gender norms remain strong' when it comes to household chores. The researchers show that 8,500 couples who were interviewed discovered that women do approximately 16 hours of household chores every week, while men do closer to six.

In addition, when it comes to politics we can find differences between more women in political positions and similarities between movements that were done in both impactful decades. Social expectations for what a woman’s proper role outside the home constrained women Members of Congress as well. Maurine Neuberger, who served for years in the Oregon legislature, puts her name on the ballot, and she encounters prejudice and people saying, ‘A woman’s place is in the home.’ She has to walk a very tight wire in conducting her campaign. Congresswoman Gracie Pfost of Idaho observed that a woman seeking political office “must be willing to have her every motive challenged, her every move criticized,” and added that she “must submit to having her private life scrutinized under a microscope . . . and [being] the subject of devastating rumors every day.” With the amount of women in the 1950s in political positions were very limited and very criticized which others may agree that has repeated itself into the present day. Many of these women only represented less than 10% of the political parties . The difference is seen in the amount of women that are in political parties in the present day in comparison. The comparison is very little but still a subtle change improving women in office or political platforms going up to at least 24% . Just last year Hillary Clinton was the first woman to run for office be more specific….not last year and many women run for office...and she wasn’t the first to run for president, just for the democratic party. and even though it was a defeat, it inspires women to continue to impact politics. Similarities are seen between the movements and protest for women's suffrage whether it’s for present day from decades before. For example as the #MeToo movement is advancing record numbers of women are seeking office, and as the Women’s March drives the resistance against the Trump administration. Feminism is reaching an all-time level of recognition. Many women are trying to break the stereotypes and challenge the thought of the quality whether it’s protesting for equal pay or rights to their own body women are fighting . Similarly when looking back to previous decades before, feminism was just as powerful as today. The movement won some major legislative and legal victories: The Equal Pay Act of 1963 theoretically outlawed the gender pay gap and series of landmark Supreme Court cases through the ’60s and ’70s gave married and unmarried women the right to use birth control. Women today are trying to repeat the same impact women were fighting for decades ago for the same purpose.

Lastly we can see similarities between stereotypes of women in the workforce and differences between the amount of women who choose to ignore the stereotypes and choose to work. Similarly the stereotype between women regarding workforce for women remains, the 'ideal' 1950's woman is one in which a woman's only goals were to take care of the home and look beautiful. Even though the years have passed, women couldn't find their voice and their true potential in society because 'business culture was dominated by men, and the rules that existed were the rules created by men.' Fortunately there has been a difference in the amount of women in the workforce in comparison to earlier decades .Women composed more than 10 percent of the workforce even back in 1900. By 1950, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 34 percent of women (and 86 percent of men) were employed. Most commonly held positions as secretaries, bank tellers or clerical workers, sales clerks, private household workers and teachers. In 1950 about one in three women participated in the labor force. By 1998, nearly three of every five women of working age were in the labor force. That’s implying that women are starting to make about half of the work force and men being the other half. A completely different workforce percentage in comparison to the 1950s for women

As we begin to distinguish differences among women in the past and women in present day , we should appreciate all the evolution that has occurred throughout the decades and continue to make change. Regardless of the ideal world of gender inequality, we should continue to fight to break these gender roles regarding household, political and work gender roles.

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