Womens Rights in the Workplace

Brittany Dorris Mr. Dean Ford Eng. 101 04 October 2010 A Wife, a Mom, and a Worker Women fought very hard for their rights in the workplace. Some of them, including Susan B Anthony, went above and beyond the norm. Yet, today our rights are still not the same as a man’s. At one point women weren’t allowed to work at all, and today they are allowed to have jobs while still being home makers. Although improvements have been made, there are still several dilemmas that need to be addressed. A women earns less than a man when doing the same work, and that is extremely unfair.Another issue in the workplace is that men underestimate women due to lack of strength and discrimination. There are also the issues of pregnancy and sexual harassment. Due to financial aspects, discrimination, and issues solely based on gender, women are not treated equally in the workplace. A young adult female will pay the same tuition as a young male throughout school, yet in the workplace she will ea rn less money. A woman only earns 77 cents on the dollar of what a man earns (Talk). The average 25 year old woman working full time until age 65 will earn $523,000 less than the average working man (Rodriguez).It is unjust that a female pays the same for an education in order to get a job, but a male at the same job will earn more money. African American women earn 72 cents to the dollar of a white male and Latino females earn 60 cents (Williams). If a woman is required to pay the same bills as a man, then why does she earn less for doing the same job? If a man has an electricity bill for $100 and earns 10 dollars per hour, he only has to work ten hours in order to pay the electricity bill. When a woman has a $100 electric bill and works the same job as the aforementioned male, she would have to work more than 10 hours.Women aren’t required to work at a slower pace than men and are required to pay the same for bills and schooling, so it is not fair for them to make less mone y. Women are often discriminated against and belittled in the workplace due to factors that are not logical. It is frequently claimed that woman should have to ‘fit in’ to a ‘masculine culture’, but there is little systematic evidence on this (Faulkner 2). Women are too often discriminated against and underestimated when it comes to careers. An example of women being underestimated while at work is in the military.Though the percentage of women in the U. S military has increased dramatically since 1980, which is when they were first allowed to serve, women are less likely to go into combat. Although there are no laws that prohibit women from going into combat, there are laws that prohibit women from going into permanent assignments such as ships and aircrafts, according to a study conducted by the Women’s Research and Education Institute. Most of these restrictions are for the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force. There are also policies that restrict wo men’s roles in the Army.Though there are some restrictions on women’s roles in the military, the Coast Guard and Department of Transportation give women opportunities. As a matter of fact, the proportion of jobs available to women in the Coast Guard and Department of Transportation is 100 percent compared to other services in the military, according to the study. (Rodriguez) There is no logical reason why a female should not be allowed to work permanently on jobs and assignments such as ships and aircrafts. Females are completely capable of using high intellect, doing hard labor, and running equipment.It is very wrong of men to treat women so poorly in the workplace due to stereotypes. Another example of female discrimination in the workplace that I know about from personal experiences is my mother’s career. My mother works in construction and does finish work on houses. She is treated very poorly by her male coworkers because they do not agree with her working a job that they see as a ‘mans job’. Regardless of their asinine opinions, she is usually the first one done with her assignments and considered by her bosses to be one of the hardest workers in the company.Sadly, she is still paid less than the men at her job. If she is truly one of the best employees then she should be given a raise instead of being awarded less cash. It is illegal to not hire someone based on their race, yet it is legal to pay a woman less due to her sex. It should be clear to everyone that women are treated poorly and unfairly in the workplace everyday. Another stereotypical belief is that women aren’t as intelligent as men. If this were true, then the female generations of our past would not have come as far as they have today in the workplace.There are women involved in politics, the medical field, and education. If men were truly more intelligent, then women would not be capable of being successful in those fields. Linda Tapp, president of Crown Safety in Cherry Hill, and a very successful female, states that â€Å"gender discrimination is still live and well. No matter how much we like to think things have changed, there are more than a few people out there who think a woman can still not do the same jobs a man can do†(Eglash). In my own experience, I have learned that female teachers and doctors do an equally good job as males in those fields.A woman is fully capable of doing a job that requires high intellect, just as a man is. I believe that it is ridiculous and unjustified for a man to treat a woman at work poorly because he believes that men are more intelligent. While for the most part women and men are the same, there are biological differences that should be taken into account. One of the main differences is the fact that females can become pregnant. Instead of treating women better in the workplace and respecting them for trying to keep a job while pregnant, men tend to treat them poorly.In 1964, the Title VII was amended by the Pregnancy discrimination Act; it was put into action in order to eliminate the issue of pregnancy affecting a female’s career (Kazlowski 27). Although it is illegal to dismiss a woman from her career due to her becoming pregnant, there are still cases where it happens. Not only are women required to do the same work as a man for less pay, but they are also expected to be good mothers and attentive wives. I believe that a woman should be paid more than a man due to the fact that they tend to have more to balance in their daily lives.A female teacher who is pregnant gets less sleep than a male teacher,. and the female still has to show up at work bright and early. Women are not cut enough slack while pregnant and still earn less than a man. Have a guy carry 30 extra pounds on his stomach and see if he can still do his job. Some people say that women have unfair advantages when it comes to acquiring jobs and that makes it acceptable for them to be p aid less. I agree that in some circumstances women are unrightfully rewarded jobs due to being â€Å"attractive females† but that does not justify them being paid less.I personally believe that I was given my job due to the fact that I am a young female, but I still work as hard as my male coworkers in order to try and earn respect and get equal pay. Although this is not always a bad aspect for females, it still places them in an unequally category next to men. One of the main issues that are present in the workplace for females is sexual harassment. Women are constantly being disrespected based on sex, including at the workplace. If that is not poor treatment, then I don’t know what is.Despite common assumptions, new research suggest that women are not more likely to be sexually harassed when they are the minority or majority in a work group. Instead, researchers found that in most cases, women were sexually harassed at work when their work group had a similar proport ion of males and females. (McGuire) This says that when a woman is given an equal opportunity to work somewhere, she is more likely to be sexually harassed while at work, and that leaves her in an unfair predicament. Sexual harassment is a crime and can make someone feel degraded and disrespected.Some women only have jobs because they allow their bosses and coworkers to sexually harass them, and I know this because I am one of them. My own male coworkers say they wish they could keep a job just by being â€Å"attractive†. They do not understand that it affects someone’s confidence when they know the only reason they have a job is solely based on looks. A female senator was once called a prostitute and attractive (Thompson). This is one of the many examples of verbal harassment that women all over the world face everyday in the workplace.Physical harassment such as groping also exist for females at work. While most harassment isn’t done maliciously, most women wo uld much rather have their job because they deserve it and not because they are female. Women should be treated equally as a whole, not just where it gives them an advantage, such as attaining the job in the first place. Women are treated unequally and unfairly throughout the world. Some of the situations work in a woman’s favor while others give them a large disadvantage. There are females who don’t work hard, and get to keep their jobs based solely on attractiveness.Then we have women who work hard and still get paid less than a man. If that is the case, then a woman’s bills and school tuition should also be 77 cents to the dollar, or they should not be required to work as hard for their money. Let’s not forget to mention that there are still jobs that women have difficulty or are not capable of acquiring, such as manual labor jobs or technical jobs. If we can have female body builders who are stronger than most men, then we should be able to have femal es working in all fields of the army.Sexism and unfairness in the workplace is a big issue that shouldn’t be ignored. Maybe the reason it is so often ignored is because it stirs up failure and embarrassment for the American government, since they fought against it for 30 years (Rodriguez). As a country, we should fight to end the fact that women are treated unequally in the workplace, rather than ignore it. All women should earn the same wages as men and be given the same job opportunities. Also they should not be stereotyped or discriminated against while in the workplace.