Women in the Workplace

Running Head: WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE 1

Women in the Workplace

Michelle Hyatt

Dr. Kenneth Larimore, Ph.D.

Introduction to Sociology

September 4, 2011

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Women have been treated very unfair for many, many years throughout the workplace. Women today are almost as equal as men in the workplace, but it has taken lots of work to get there. In this paper, you will read about the beginning of when women started working, some of the key examples as to why women have been treated unfairly, and through today, how things have changed. Only after you read this paper, you will then see why women have fault so hard to be just as equal as men in the workplace.

Women have always been know to raise children and take care of the home and honestly that was their only job. You agree? Well, before they started working within the workforce with men, this is exactly how their lives were. They got married, had kids, and then raised the family. Raising the family consisted of cooking, cleaning, and doing whatever was necessary to ensure that the kids and their husband was taken care of. “Most families lived off of a single husband’s income, which was very challenging at times, especially for the middle-class family. Back in the 1900’s, wages paid to a semi-skilled working man were around $12-$15 a week” (Smith, 1994, pg 61). Looking at today and the inflation that has happened over the years, this is what some people make per hour. As making a living got more and more expensive, women had to find other means to help their husband’s bring in income. When life starts to get tough, what other option is there but for women to start helping raise income for the family?

You could say that women have been working since the beginning of age, but to what degree of working does that mean? Does that mean, earning wages just like men and bringing home income to the family, or does it mean, working for nothing? Well, in the

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beginning of times, women were more like servants. In fact, “after 1691, many women came to America as servants and slaves from Africa and did much of the heavy work in homes and in the cotton fields” (Mills, 1995, Pg. 92). Through various wars and disasters happening, women worked very hard to raise a living for their families, perhaps even harder than men. Throughout immigrant communities, daughters were even required to work. “Protective Old World Traditions demanded that married women and mothers stay at home, and their children