Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Struggle for Equal Rights of Women in Anerica - Essay Example

However, the plethora of rights available to women in the United States of America was not handed over to them in a silver platter – it was the outcome of decades, even centuries, of struggle for equal rights and equal opportunities. It was made through the pioneering efforts of brave women who refused to be constrained by circumstances and who demanded the right to exercise their agency and chart their own destiny. This paper traces the evolution of equal rights in America and the progress that women have made in the face of numerous challenges and barriers to their development.

It will look in particular into how the social and legal norms have initially been complicit in creating gender differentials and how women have overcome these and have in fact been able to reshape social structures and the legal system in order to advance their cause. This paper will also look into the progress that has been made by women engaged in the professional practice of math, science and engineering and the particular challenges and issues that women face as they embark on their careers.

Finally, this paper will recommend some strategies that can be employed in order to further improve women’s prospects and create more inroads and opportunities for women to explore and eventually conquer. If we begin to trace the root of gender differentiation, and even subordination, it is imperative to consider the notion of gender as social construct and see how men and women are assigned different social roles and are treated or considered differently because of perceived biological differences.

As expressed by Lorber (1994: 56) – Western society’s values legitimate gendering by claiming that it all comes from physiology – female and male procreative differences. But gender and sex are not equivalent, and gender as a social construction does not flow automatically from genitalia and reproductive organs, the main physiological differences of females and males. In the construction of ascribed social statuses, physiological differences such as sex, stage of development, color of skin, and size are crude markers.

As a result of this, women were then considered less able than men to hold jobs, embark on careers, make decisions, and hold public office. This was also why male children were mostly preferred over the female children. While America can in no way be compared to China, wherein girl babies were being killed by their parents, there still used to be a bias against girl children. Women have been considered as the weaker sex, unable to carry out masculine tasks and duties requiring intellectual development.

In the past, a little girl would learn from her mother that a woman’s place was at home – doing household work like cooking and cleaning and watching over young children. Indeed, societal norms have greatly affected women in many cultures. Women, in most cultures, are considered to be inferior, a situation that has continued to hinder their career progress. In many societies, men and women are assigned distinct social roles which are restricted by certain norms. The perception of the role of women in the workforce has widely changed over time in the society.

Historically the society viewed women society as in the home taking care of the husband and children. Social norms