Women on Boards - Essay Example

In this current event discussion the article, “Women on Boards: Where the U.S. Ranks” featured in New York Times is analyzed. The main event coming out is the misrepresentation of women in American biggest companies. The article presents a case illuminating the representation of gender in American work places through comparison with the interventions taken by other countries towards the same.  Germany is featured as having implemented a law which advocates for 30% representation of women in board seats; while American companies have been shown to exhibit slow progress.  Gender inequality depicted therein is a serious event that poses an impact on various dimensions of society, especially families. In this case, the misrepresentation of women worsens the situation of gender inequality within the families. A perfect scenario of the impact of gender misrepresentation is the case of women-headed families. The women are not allowed to get top-notch jobs ahead of men hence this makes most of their income, needed to support families, relatively lesser. It fosters the view that women are inferior to males and should be submissive to their husbands. This means that most of the decision-making within the families is to be presided over by husbands who give final decisions. In essence, it furthers the oppression of women's rights within the families. They are to be objects of use by men.

Women's misrepresentation in the place of work also has a direct influence on social work. It directly ridicules the step taken by social workers to represent the rights of the marginalized in society. The result of this insinuates a failure of social work, within America, to initiate appropriate strategies for ensuring gender equality in places of work. The major purpose of social work is to improve the subjective well-being of women within families and at institutional levels. Intuitively, the current event depicts a worsened scenario of social injustice against women through the violation of their representation rights.

The best way for social workers in America to correct this situation is to integrate strategies that would ensure the equality of women in every dimension of society. This can be through creating awareness about the implication of gender inequality within society in order to give weight to the issue. Society should be informed about the need for gender equality and its significance in fostering development and growth. Development and growth come as the result of allowing women with skills and expertise to work in the field where they can be much more productive, without discrimination. Social workers can also contribute directly to solving the problem by helping women and addressing their misrepresentation. This can be done in a manner that challenges social injustice within the biggest companies, by frequently exposing the representation of women therein. This will serve as a caution for the companies involved since it puts at stake their public image.