Women of Today

“All men are created equal. ” These famous words were spoken by Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States) in his Declaration of Independence and are still being quoted by historians and politicians in America.

The statement holds true to the equality of all men in the world but what about women? On examining every aspect of society from race to religion to economic status to education level, one can safely say that women have always been discriminated against.However, one can observe a change in gender roles in recent times because women of today are modern, independent, outspoken and can take care of themselves unlike women of the past decades who believed they were inferior and were considered second-class citizens by the men. Gender roles can be defined as "socially and culturally defined prescriptions and beliefs about the behavior and emotions of men and women” (Anselmi and Law 1998, p. 195).

Many women have impressively broken through the defined beliefs about their behavior and are setting good examples for young girls to follow in future.They see themselves equal to men and are interested in pursuing careers and independent lifestyles as opposed to house jobs (National 2002). They have excelled in the work force; made a name for themselves in politics and have improved their standard of education significantly. Their achievement in recent times defines the change in the gender role of women in today’s society. Firstly, more women are being hired to work in high profile positions in big companies and organizations.

This was not the case in earlier times when women were considered suitable only for domestic jobs or s teachers in primary and secondary schools. However, only a minority of women liked working in gender-specific jobs such as teaching, nursing and other low-end jobs (Judy & D'Amico, 1997). Early in the 20th century, few women were a part of the labor force. Their place was at home, taking care of the family and doing domestic chores. However, that has completely changed over time as women have grown in stature over time and have become an integral part of the labor force in many countries of the world.In America, just after World War 2, the civilian labor force participation for women was a paltry 32%.

Now however, some six decades later that rate has climbed in excess of 70% (Carlton Davies 2002). Also, women used to pursue their careers only until they had a child or they got married. This is not the case anymore as more and more women have begun taking their profession seriously. In the last ten years in America, mothers have accounted for most of the rise in women's overall labor force rate.

For mothers with children between the ages of 6 and 17, an astonishing 77 percent are in the labor force (Carlton Davies 2002). This is a further indication of the improvement in the position of women in recent times. Even though women still aren’t paid more than men, their situation now is much better than before when it was a rarity to see a woman in a workplace. Women now make up 46. 8% of the labor force in America (U.

S. Department of Labor 2009). Also, the support from the American government has been tremendous.The Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Bill have acted as stepping stone for women to enter the US work force in large numbers (Kay 2000).

They have also seen astounding progress in the field of politics in the last few decades. In recent years, the influence of women in politics and important decision making has been significant and they are now playing major roles as world leaders and important members of a country’s political system. In 1920, women in America were given the right to vote for the first time (Jone Johnson Lewis 2010).This was pretty late considering that elections in America were being held since the late 18th century. They were thought to be not good enough to vote back then. Now there are up to sixteen females in the American senate, including Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Kay Bailey Hutchison .

This reflects a change in the gender roles of American women in modern times. Not only are women taking up offices in quite a few countries, they are becoming an integral part of the political cabinet in many countries as well.From 1945-1995, the percentage of women Member of Parliaments world wide has increased four folds. In 1945, there were only 3.

0% of women MP’s in 26 world wide parliaments. That figure has seen a major rise because by the end of 1995, the percentage of women MP’s had reached 11. 6% in 176 world wide parliaments (Anonymous 2009). Their position in politics has only strengthened with time.

Additionally, the presence of female Presidents in many countries has given encouragement to other women to break the normal assumption that women are better off at home doing domestic chores.Quite a few countries in the world have female Presidents, namely, India (Pratibha Patil), Phillipines (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), Germany (Angela Merkel), Ireland (Mary McAleese) and Finland (Tarja Halonen) to name a few. In a country like India where women have been considered the inferior race traditionally, female political figures like Sonia Gandhi and Pratibha Patil have gone a long way in defining the change in the gender roles in the country in recent times. Women idolize and look up to her because she has been a pioneer in her field and is a source of inspiration to them.

Likewise, in USA, women look up to political figures like Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice because of their achievements in politics. The fact that Clinton was a runner up in the last US presidential election shows that women are now being given equal status as men and are being treated almost equally. Condoleezza Rice was only the second female Secretary of State and she was in office recently during the Bush administration. She was succeeded by Clinton herself. This was an astounding achievement for women in America because for the first time ever, two consecutive Secretaries of State had been women.

The presence of women in such high positions has only been possible because of the improvement in their standard of education. Education standards for women have improved drastically over a few decades as more and more women worldwide value the importance of education in today’s society. The numbers of women gaining education at the graduate and the undergraduate levels have matched the number of men since the early 1980s and have continued through the 1990s (Equal Pay 1998).By 1990 women held 55% of bachelor’s degrees, 53% of master’s degrees and nearly 40% of octorates (Judy & D'Amico 1997).

Education has made women more aware of their rights in the society, therefore, more women now want to work in important companies and hold prestigious positions (Khojasteh 1998). Earlier, women did not even go to school and used to get married at a tender age of fourteen or fifteen. That has all gone away because women of today are more ambitious and career minded. In prior times, educating a girl seemed useless to parents but now parents are keen on getting their girls educated as well as their boys.

The change in the thinking of many parents has also played a major role in revolutionizing the gender roles of women nowadays. Only 42% of men make up America’s college students (Tamar Lewin 2006). This points out the fact that women have leapfrogged men when it comes to acquiring a higher level of education. Over the past twenty years in the U. S. College attainment rates among young females have increased dramatically.

A survey conducted in 1994 reveals that women were as likely to hold a bachelor’s degree as their male counterparts.This was not the case in the 70’s where only a few women managed to complete their bachelor’s. Women have made significant advances in education over the past few decades, closing the gender gap that existed prior to that. However, many people argue that women are best suited as home makers and they are not able to handle the task of home making while they are working. "Male stereotyping and preconceptions of women's roles and abilities are top barriers to women's advancement" (Catalyst 2000).

One of the reasons why women don’t get high level jobs in big multi-national firms is that they tend to resign when they are having a baby or getting married. This is not true to a large extent. Mrs. Jacobs, a working mom says that she loves her work and enjoys the “challenge” of taking care of the kids and doing domestic chores simultaneously. She is not an exception because women world wide are multi tasking at home and at work. It is this independent streak and passion (lacking in the women of yesteryears) that defines the modern woman and enlightens us about the change in the roles of women over the past decades.

Moreover, people also say that women tend to get biased in their judgment because emotions affect them a bit too easily. The 'traditional woman' is viewed as being "emotional, passive, nurturing, weak, dependent, non-assertive, and incompetent, except in narrowly defined domestic chores" (Obstacles to Women, 1996). They aren’t thought to be suitable for high profile jobs because in the corporate world, one has to make tough decisions. With a woman in charge, the decision made could be biased since emotions play on their mind.

I whole heartedly disagree with that. Currently, we have so many women running entire nations that it wouldn’t be fair to make such a statement. Pratibha Patil, the Indian President for instance, has been running a very large democracy very smoothly. It is not that her task is easy, but she makes it look easy because she manages everything with great composure; a quality that most women possess.

Not only are they Presidents, many like Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice (both have worked as US Secretary of State) have held important positions to good effect.Conclusively, the status of women has improved tremendously over time. They have improved in every department; be it education, work or political sector. They now make up 46 % of the US workforce, yet the percentage of top woman managers is a mere 6. 2%, 154 women in comparison with 2,488 men (Facts on Working Women, 2000). Even, though women have progressed steadily, men still hold the majority of the significant jobs today.

The future holds great promise for the upcoming generation of women and it will be a fair assessment to say that women are now a major force to be reckoned with.Referencehttp://womenshistory.about.com/od/suffrage1900/a/august_26_wed.htm