Women and work, a long journey
It has been a very long and challenging journey for women to be able to find their way in society and to be present at workplaces as a female. About one hundred years ago, something like women and work didn’t even occur to people’s minds, there were very few women who worked outside the home and mostly the young and unmarried.
Culture considered women the half population who was responsible for taking care of the home and children while men were the only bread makers. Girls who intended school barely enrolled in higher education programs.
Girls were considered to get married, give birth to children, cook, and be good wives to their husbands. Their main responsibly towards business, work and society were supporting their husbands to be successful at their jobs, by staying home and managing the family and children inside the home.
This situation could not change easily because it would threaten the whole family, society, and power structure. Men who had all the power to make decisions had to share it with the other half. And sharing power is not what human beings want. But as an inevitable part of development, women started to think about their rights in society and out of the home. And the next step, they started to ask for them.
Women started to ask for their social rights by getting the right to vote in 1920 in the United States of America and even later in other countries around the world.
Women with lower education started working in factories and housekeeping and educated women mostly occupied secretarial positions. While their main responsibility stayed as a woman and most of them quit their jobs when they got married or had children.
Nowadays, after almost a century, women are actively present in all areas; science, sports, education, health system, politics and etc.
Women and work conditions
Although women have achieved so much over the last century, there is still a lot more to do. Women are still paid less than their male coworkers, even if they are equally qualified. Some occupations are not easy for a woman to get. There are some jobs that are considered feminine and some masculine. Because of the biological and historical role of women in giving birth and breastfeeding and taking care of children, jobs that are more involved with children and education are considered feminine. And jobs that need to be physically involved are considered masculine.
There are some unwritten laws that prevent women to be able to demonstrate their skills, knowledge, and abilities due to these social and cultural limitations.
We are all responsible for change
Although, all challenges women face every day, we have gone far. And now, every single woman is responsible to continue the journey that our grandmothers and grand grandmothers started years ago to provide better conditions for us. And now it is our turn to make better social conditions for women who live after us.
This duty might be harder to be done in some countries because of discriminative laws and culture. But what we know for sure is “Nothing is impossible”. Women did not have the right to vote one hundred years ago but now we have so many politicians and even presidents all over the world. It is history that is made by brave women. And it shouldn’t stop until every single woman on earth is treated equally.
We are all responsible for change.
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