The Percentage of Men and Women in the U.S Essay Example for Free

The Percentage of Men and Women in the U.S Essay In 1950, 86 percent of men and 34 percent of women age 16 and older were in the labor force (See Figure 1). Although the 1964 Civil Rights Act had outlawed employment discrimination based on race and gender, gender quotas in education had not yet been challenged effectively, and enforcement of the law lagged behind its adoption. Women who entered law, medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine before 1970 did so despite discrimination based on gender. At the time of the 1970 census, sample data revealed that about 20,000 women held jobs in engineering, 13,000 as lawyers or judges, and nearly 26,000 as physicians or dentists. By 1970 women had clearly succeeded better in entering some male professions than others; one physician out of ten was a woman, but only one in twenty veterinarians was a woman. In cognizance of the rising population of working mothers, new womens magazines arose in the 1970s like Ms. and Working Woman, which offered advice and encouragement to the working mother, but the real problems of juggling family needs with employment responsibilities had grown no easier. The dilemma of the working mother stemmed partly from the nations refusal to mandate child day care at local, state, or federal levels (Blackwelder, 1997, p.197). In the face of the inadequacy of affordable day care and continued public rhetoric undermining working mothers’ confidence, working mothers of the 1970s turned to each other for support and for advice. A â€Å"handbook† for working mothers published in 1977 addressed the issue of guilt before turning to advice on the emotional, career, and logistical issues confronting working mothers. The author, Niki Scott, reached a not overwhelmingly affirmative conclusion about the situation of the working mother: â€Å"Perhaps youll learn . . . that some of your guilt is unwarranted; that though . . .guilt in working mothers is nearly universal, most women do not do it allthey just do the best they can; that children are not quite as vulnerable as we might think, given a chance to develop; and that you are not alone† (Scott, 1978). By 2002, wide gaps of men and women in the workforce had converged to 74 and 60 percent, respectively (BLS, 2003). BLS expects the male and female labor force participation rates to continue to converge to 73 and 62 percent, respectively, in 2010 (Fullerton Toossi, 2001). In general, converging labor force participation among men and women visualize that the number of workers that are women is increasing. It was 47 percent in 2000 and is expected to be 48 percent in 2010 (See Figure 1). Currently, U. S. employers are under constant pressure to ensure equality for women with respect to employment, advancement opportunities, and compensation. They also need to accommodate working mothers and fathers through parental leaves, part-time employment, flexible work schedules, job sharing, telecommuting, and child care assistance. In addition, because more women are working, employers are more sensitive to the growing need for policies and procedures to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. Some organizations have special orientation programs to acquaint all personnel with the problem and to warn potential offenders of the consequences. Indeed, globalization has the potential to improve women’s economic achievement. For example, increased employment opportunities for women in non-traditional sectors might enable them to earn and control income, giving a source of empowerment and enhancing women’s capacity to negotiate their role and status within the household and society (Bailey, 2005). In addition, the World Bank’s report entitled Enhancing Women’s Participation in Economic Development stated that women’s economic development will benefit their households and society as a whole: â€Å"International experience has proved that support for a stronger role for women in society contributes to economic growth through improved child survival rates, better family health, and reduced fertility rates. † (Bailey, 2005) Work or Family? With women’s entry into workforce participation came concerns about work-family balance, especially as women began to consider whether and at what points in their careers to have children (Orenstein, 2000). Work-family issues were depicted as either/or dilemmas in which women had to pick or choose sides (Williams, 2000). If they chose both work and family, they were labeled as superwomen or second shifters (Schwartz, 1989). Work and family women still reported exhaustion and guilt over time and energy conflicts between competing (public-private) realms (Edley, 2001). They sought to manage double binds of managerial and feminine identities, career and relational time, and embodied (feminine) differences from professional, rational, and masculine norms (Nadesan Trethewey, 2000).