Traditional Gender Roles In The Workplace

According to The Implications of Marriage Structure for Men’s Workplace Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors toward Women, three-quarters of American women are employed full-time and 79% of men have at some point of their lives worked for a woman (1). However, prior to 1967 women working full time were 60% less than it is today (2). The lack of women in the workforce was a phenomenon for hundreds of years and although there is a significant increase in women’s employment, the mentality of traditional gender roles remains. The traditional gender roles of men being the sole earner for their family and women taking care of the family have unfortunately resulted in men devaluing women’s role in the workplace (4). In western societies, the idea of …show more content…
It is great to celebrate the confidence of women in the media. Unfortunately, women’s confidence is usually portrayed is a sexual manner. Researchers from Wesleyan University found that from 1,988 advertisements in 50 well-known magazines that fifty per cent of the images portrayed women as sex objects (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/social_issues-july-dec13-sexualization_12-21/). These strong messages exhibited by the media contributes to the view that women should be seen as sexual rather than intelligent beings. This mentality trickles down to every aspect of society including discrimination against women in workplaces by men. Women seen as “sexual objects” in the workplace is dangerous as it drastically undervalues their worth and the respect they deserve among male colleagues. Since the media is very powerful at pushing certain lifestyles upon us, it is imperative for women to persevere in all aspects of life, particularly the workforce, in order to break free from this stigma. Our continued perseverance would encourage people to perceive women as the capable, intelligent colleagues, managers, and executives in the workforce that they truly …show more content…
We have to continue to work hard, endure and work together as women to fight the gender inequality faced at work. Women currently hold 20 (4.0%) of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies (http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-sp-500). This statistic is strikingly low and, unfortunately, proves that it is a “man’s world” in the workforce. Firstly, we need to understand and realize our disadvantaged position in the workplace, but not conform and accept this as our fate. We need to excel in every aspect of our career and push new and exciting boundaries to get our message of equality across. Many women conform to anything and everything men in superior positions in the workforce command of them. Of course, this can warrant positive outcomes initially and may even get a woman promoted, but in the long term, this isn’t effective and in the best interest of advancing the position of women as a whole in the workforce. The last thing women should do is to segregate themselves from each other as competition for men’s admiration in the workforce. We need to stop alienating ourselves from other women at work and continue to have a stance and opinions of our own by maintaining a robust bond between female workers. Equality will positively change drastically if we start this from our homes. It shouldn 't matter whether we choose to be housewives or for example, software engineers in a male dominated industry. We should be demand respect in all