Working women?

In my opinion, we have come a very long way as women in the workforce. In the Progressive Era, women were limited to jobs such as candy, clothing, or cigar rolling factories, or passive jobs such as teaching, laundering or department stores because management thought “women were more polite, easier to control, and more honest that male workers (Carnes, 2008, 513).” I find this statement to be very comedic. As a female Sergeant in the United States Army, I was often regarded as a “Nazi” or told that I should be nicer to my Soldiers because we were office workers. Honest, definitely. Women are polite and easy to control - not in my case. Luckily, in the Armed Forces, there is equal pay across the board based on rank and time in grade instead of gender. As a woman in the early 1900’s “the only constant was their meager wages and poor working conditions (oah.org/pubs/magazine/progressive/barrett.html., 2007, np).”
As of 2006, according to the statistics presented by the Department of Labor and Bureau of Statistics, women are still getting paid less than men, but the gap is closing on positions held and pay. What I found to be strange is that the positions where women are less employed, such as Construction, Farming and Repair Service, the gap in pay is not that much. Only 0.4% of women work in construction but the pay difference is almost marginal with women making 92.9% of their male counterparts. We are also closing the gap in terms of office work. The number of women working as your average run of the mill assistant/administrative professional dropped from 22.4% in 2005 to 22% in 2006. Not a large number, but that is just one year’s difference. It also seems to correlate to the increase in the number of women managers, 37.9% in 2005 rising to 38.1% in 2006. Also, when it comes to unemployment, 13.1% of women are claiming that they are unemployed versus 13.6% of men. However, the evidence also shows that still, many women are still assuming the homemaker role: 21.3% are not even in the workforce as compared to our male counterparts at 12.9% not in the workforce. (bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook2007.htm)
Regardless of number, we are making progress. Maybe not as fast as some women would like, but there are still a number of women who want to stay home or work in the “normal” feminine labeled jobs. There are no longer jobs that are off limits to women. As Dr. Sarles pointed out, there was an “idea that men are active while women are passive (Sarles, 2008, np)” and I do not agree with that, but I know, for myself, that there are jobs I either don’t want to work in myself, or jobs that I cannot physically do. I am fine with that. But I also do not feel that I would not be chosen for a management position simply because I am a woman. I strive for excellence through education and my abilities and feel that if I am the best candidate, I will get the job.








Works Cited
bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook2007.htm.
Carnes, Mark C. & Garraty, John A. American Destiny: Narrative of a Nation. New York: Longman, 2008.

oah.org/pubs/magazine/progressive/barrett.html
Sarles, John. “Lesson 1.” History 1322, UIW