However, some women joined the work force and would do jobs that men previously had held. Some were not forced to, but they had to work as hard as they could to support their families during this difficult time. In contrast, the writer Norman Cousins commented that there was a negative opinion on the women’s presence in the workforce despite women willing to acquire a living wage. He also stated in his book that the federal government proscribed holding government jobs by both members of a married couple, and many localities stopped hiring women whose husbands with a minimum wage (Cousins 1939). Another aspect of the Depression affecting life of women was the moral argument against working-women.
Throughout the article, she references women and the culture of overwork, completely disregarding the men in society today that are “workaholics” in order to support their families. Because of her feminist beliefs, she takes a primary view of the issue as one the only effects women in this article. There are however a large number of men who become workaholics in order to support a family, where the woman chooses to stay home with the children for example. When Rebick states “women need to make overwork a major public policy issue,” she is being prejudice towards the male population that is also effected by overwork. She only references woman in her advice on how to overcome the issue, therefore leaving out a major demographic in the workforce.
Women’s restriction in the workforce was also because of their forced dependency on men and poor socio-economic status of women. Women were seen to have no intelligence; their higher education was not seen as needed. Only those women who had higher social standings and wealth had a right to higher education. Along with Christian woman’s lack of higher of education, they were highly subordinate to men, meaning their father, brothers, and husband. They were not a loud to own land and also had to pass on their inheritance to their husband.
However, when the 1990’s began a lot of feminist movements began that spoke out to the fact that women should have more of a role in society than just to cook and clean. This is when women started competing with men for jobs and education like they never had before. “Young men…have been challenged by women in areas that our fathers and grandfathers never were—in education, the workplace, business, the professions” (Katz 17). For a lot of men, this is a difficult thing to deal with. Being in a position where a male is not the dominant sex can really make one begin to doubt their masculinity.
Women were expected to marry, have children and financially they were expected to be fully dependent on their husbands. Women rarely had careers and most professions refused entry to women. However, between the years 1850 and 1901 women’s role in society began to be challenged. There were a number of reasons for this,
One of the reasons women are leaving their careers is because of the inflexible scheduling for the working women who are also mothers, making it impossible for some to manage both. The questions I have regarding this is that if the workforce was in some way more flexible for the working mothers, would they still be considered equal among the men? Would men see weakness among a woman if she has to be given a little more slack at work because she has children at home? Or could men see it as unequal and unfair that they do not have the option to minimize their work load for the same title and pay as his female co-worker? The thing is, working women risk losing respect from men if they can’t “do it all”, all the time, without complaining.
It's easy to see why Rich believes that when she was a student, what she was taught "in no way prepared [female students] to survive as . . .wom[e]n in a world organized by men" (211). In my opinion, not a lot of women around this age would have been brave enough to write an article about taking women students serious for fear of oppression. Many women probably did not even know how to write because their were neglected from their studies or were probably always to busy doing what ever their husbands wanted them to do.
Although Regina has plans for herself to endeavor into the real world, it seems impossible for her to do anything without the permission of her father. She feels greatly limited on the actions and decisions that she can make because of the short leash that her father holds her by. Due to the fact that Regina acquires the qualities of a young woman, her father feels that she does not have a strong sense of the world. Whenever the time comes for a member of a powerful family to take over the role as head of the house, the role comes along
Sexism Sexism caused a lot of problems in history. For example during the industrial revolution women are prevented to have a job that is paid equally as a man does although they do more work than a men does, and this lead to women rights movement. In ancient China women were not allow to go out they couldn’t have a job all they do is stay at home and do housework. It’s not really because their religion didn’t allow them. It’s because Chinese people think after women get married they will live with their husband and they will become a part of the other family.
Since the women and the tenants living in the Robert Taylor housing faced many barriers. They didn’t have the privileges to call the police when they needed their services and not even the CHA. Also being black let them not being able to maintain a good earning job and education were hard to obtain in the projects. They had many obstacles to succeeding in life in the projects and there was no one to help them but themselves. That is why women were a big part of the families in the projects because they found a way to survive psychically and economically.