“Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.” Sandra Day O’Connor (http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/s_d_oconnor.htm)
In the year 2050, women are finally getting close to closing the wage gap between men and women. Although pay is not the same in every job yet, it is the closest that it has been since the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963. In the past the more education that a woman had, the bigger the wage gap became. In 2004, “female doctors only earn 58 percent of their male counterparts’ salaries.” (http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Careers/10/22/equal.pay)
Women have always fought for equal pay for equal work, and it is finally within reach. Women are finally entering the ranks of the more hazardous jobs, such as firefighters, construction workers and lumberjacks, where “over 90 percent of all occupational deaths happen to men.”, (Kimmel 197) This is one reason that the wage gap has started to close. Men are staying home in larger numbers and letting their wives be the breadwinners of the family.
Women and men are both huge parts of the science world many thanks to the encouragement women started to receive in the early 2000's. "Large increases in the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and much more moderate overall increases at the National Science Foundation (NSF) continue an upward trend in funding for science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) research and education. NSF's ADVANCE program, which promotes activities to encourage women to enter science and engineering fields, received a funding boost of $7.0 million, for a total of $16.0 million."(http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/xxvi/chap5.htm)
Companies are hiring people based upon their qualifications and there is no such thing as a glass ceiling or cellar. Companies in the past have had problems with the glass ceiling, but once the USA had a female president, men started to realize that women could do anything, and do it well.
References:
http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd/xxvi/chap5.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Careers/10/22/equal.pay
http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/s_d_oconnor.htm)
Kimmel, Michael S. (2002). The Gendered Society Second Edition. New York, NY:Oxford University Press.
5 comments:
Your Learning group did an outstanding job on this blog. I feel like I am looking at a professional product. I thought a few things to consider for the workplace of 2050 could include the following. (1) The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights act, which specifically addresses aspects of discrimination by private and public (government) employers. Title IV of the act brought the court orders to desegregate schools, and was a launching platform for matters of job discrimination. (2) One thing about the 1963 Equal Pay Act - it has no specifically enumerated policy enforcement mechanisms. Perhaps by 2050, there will be an ammendment to this act which addresses this aspect. (3). Title VII of this act outlawed job discrimination, and also lead to the formation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
I thought this information would help provide a broader historical perspective on whats posted on this blog, and would offer fuel for further speculation to what 2050 will hold for all of us.
Although I also liked this blog, i fell that it could have went a little deeper with the subjects it contained.it is also well done with severel references. I feel that theses blogs could use more personal opinions. The future is changeable, and hard to guess at times. In any case this blog has a professiona feel" too it, and is relaxing to read. I enjoyed reading about same sex schools, and I found this fact interesting; ("It is also a known fact that “teachers call on boys more often and spend more time with them.” (Kimmel 162) Same-sex classrooms tend to put an end to this, if there are only girls in the class, then they receive much more attention from the teachers.)
Same sex schools are a fascinating topic and i personally belive that we should look into them more.The only contribution that I can add to the blog, is that the team should have also added the certain team members names to the blogs so we could that all members were contributing. To sum it up, a good piece of work.
Trelane is DAVE from learning team 2...
Learning team 3 has many resources which are supporting their comments well. There were two pictures which made their blog looks good. In the learning team 3’s text, it said that “Companies are hiring people based upon their qualifications and there is not such thing as a glass ceiling or cellar.” I asked my American friends who are working; they told me, it is getting better however it still exist. In Japan, many women and society is trying to reduce sex discrimination. Companies are choosing people based on their qualifications; however I feel if women more try to work at big and famous companies, they will face more sex discrimination. Their situation is getting better, however according to my Japanese friends, there are still so many problems based on sex. Also it is true that “Women are finally entering the ranks of the more hazardous jobs, such as firefighters, construction workers and lumberjacks, where “over 90 percent of all occupational deaths happen to men.”, (Kimmel 197) (Learning team 3)” It seems that society started allowing women to have more opportunities. However most women who are in top field, I feel they have to give up on making their family (maybe not marriage but kids). I am not sure about America, however most Japanese women who decided to keep their career, they are difficult to get married. Even they could, most of them does not have kids. This is because of their age. Japanese society says women better to marry before the age 29. It sounds like sex discrimination. However my mother also told me that it is difficult to bare baby after women get old because their bodies cannot sustain the heavy pressure of delivery. However although men became over thirty year-old, they still have many chances to get married. This is because many Japanese women tend to like men who are older than them. Men and women tend to treat more equally in American and Japanese society; however they were born in different biological system. That is why I think we have different business in societies. Of course it is up to women to choose their life; however I think it is difficult to get both career and family, especially for women.
I really like the look of this blog entry! I love the Sandra Day O'Connor quote, it was a great way to start off the entry. I think the writing flows very nicely and I like the way you portray the workforce in 2050. Your group used references nicely to support your vision of how the workplace will be. It is nice to see that, in your society, the wage gap is almost closed and there are no more glass ceilings. ~Julia Barber
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