Convenience of Women...

There is no denying the fact that all through American history women have been treated less than men. What I am blogging about today has to do with the inequality that women face in the work force. Even though it is 2009 and women have broke the barriers and made great stride, they are still greatly suppressed in the work field. It is evident that they have to work harder in order to attain the same position that a man can just waltz into.

Women have been like an unnoticed backbone to American society. When men were needed to fight in WWII, that left the U.S. in a bind. As a result of most men being overseas, there were no workers for factories or other jobs. That is when women were called upon to do their civic duty while their husband was away. Women were supposed to support the war effort and help the U.S. by working in those factories and other jobs. These women with no experience, ever, outside of being a housewife and mother. Yet, these women rose up and fulfilled their duty.



When the war was over and the women weren't needed, they were just expected to go back to being the housewife and mother that they were before. Except now these women experienced independence. In the movie 'A League of Their Own' the question is even posed to the owner of the baseball field, "Careers and higher education are leading to the masculinization of women, with enormously dangerous consequences to the home, the children, and our country. When our boys come home from war, what kind of girls will they be coming home to? And now the most disgusting example of this sexual confusion: Mr. Walter Harvey of Harvey bars is presenting us with women's baseball. Right here in Chicago, young girls plucked from their families are gathered at Harvey Field, to see which one of them can be the most masculine. Mr. Harvey, like your candy bars, you're completely... nuts." So unless it was convenient for America, these women were useless.



It wasn't until 1963 that the Equal Pay Act was approved. This act, signed into effect by President Kennedy, made it illegal to pay women lower rates for the same job strictly on the basis of their sex. Unfortunately, even though this was signed into effect in 1963---and it is 2009, as of 2007 women still made 22.2% less than men in the work force (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193820.html). So even though we have voted in the first half African American president, as far as civil rights go, we still have a long road ahead of us.