Economic of Race and Gender: Housewife to Career - Term Paper Example

Economic of Race and Gender:  Housewife to Career Introduction It is difficult to answer the questions ‘What is a woman or what makes a woman”. Even prominent scholars and philosophers struggled to define women and the role of women in our society. Some people segregate women from men with respect to the physical characteristics such as uterus and ovaries whereas others describe women in terms of their behaviour and personal characteristics. In any case, it is a fact that women in the past struggled a lot because of male domination, superstitions, traditions and beliefs. They were treated as second-class citizens. However, the scenario has changed a lot in recent times. At present majority of the women in this world has no restriction in selecting their roles in our society. Modern women can work, select profession and select their own life styles such as lesbianism or staying together. They are enjoying financial freedom nowadays because of profession. However, the debate is still going on; whether women should work or not. Some people believe that a profession is better for women whereas others argue that being in the state of housewife is better for women. The role of women is changing day by day in our society because of the huge developments happening in science and technology and subsequent changes in human life principles. Women in the past were confined within the boundaries of their home. Moreover, they have shown less interest in getting education. In fact, the social customs and the traditions prevented the women in the past from getting education. The traditions in the past were such that it is the duty of the women to look after family matters whereas it is the duty of the men to find livelihood for the family. However, the scenario has changed a lot in the past few decades. Heavy industrialization created more opportunities in the industrial sectors and the male community failed to fill the vacancies. It became necessary or inevitable for the women to assist men in their professional work. Thus, women came out from kitchens and started working in factories and industrial units. Moreover, they forced to acquire more education since it was necessary for getting better jobs. In short, opportunities in the industrial sector and increased education helped the women to think about changing their status from a housewife to a professional. This paper analyses the social and economic aspects involved in the change of status of women from house wife to professionals. Housewife to Career Actress Penelope Cruz recently said being a housewife is the “best thing in the world”. Cruz has been staying at home since giving birth to her 17-month-old son. When women get married and enter motherhood, their priorities change and their family becomes their macrocosm. While for new-age women, juggling home and career comes easy, plus it’s not easy to suddenly give up the financial independence that comes with a job, still more and more mothers are quitting their high-salaried job to be at home, raise a family, nourish the kids, and the pleasures of doing so are manifold (Sethi). Penelope Cruz can definitely express her opinion about being a professional or staying in the status of a housewife. She is immensely rich and does not have any financial problems. It is a fact that many financially sound women like the status of housewife even if they are well educated. At the same time, it is not necessary that middle class or lower class women may support the opinions of Penelope Cruz. The changing life styles and increasing family expenses made it inevitable for the middle class women to work along with men. It is difficult for the modern middle class or lower class families to find their livelihood from the earnings of husbands alone. The prices of every commodity or good are getting increased as time goes on. Only the rich families can meet their family expenses comfortable at present. Moreover, modern generation is not ready to satisfy with what they have. They are looking for every opportunity to increase their living standards. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for the women in middle or lower class to remain only as house wives. On paper, middle-class mothers are well off, their households generating more than the average combined income of. In reality, their comfortable life has changed unrecognisably – and not just financially. Their status has dramatically altered, too. Suddenly, the woman’s salary is seen as some sort of optional extra not making that much difference. This feeling, coupled with the guilt factor over full-time childcare, is pushing too many women back into housewife territory. It’s the “sod this, I’m giving up” attitude echoed by the women interviewed in last month’s deeply disturbing New Woman magazine survey. Two-thirds of respondents said they thought men should be the main breadwinners, and 70 per cent said they didn’t intend to work as hard as their mothers. (Grosko p.29) Cole & Smith (2009) pointed out the statistics of a survey to prove the displeasure of male police officers in appointing policewomen in critical areas of policing. “IACP survey found that 25 percent of top law enforcement officers expressed concerns that female officers could not handle physical conflicts” (p.206). America is believed to be the most civilized country in the world. Women in America are enjoying more freedom than women in any other parts of the world. Yet, stereotyping is prevailing in America more than anywhere else. It is a fact that police is a profession, which requires physical power, energy, courage and character. Male police officers in America believe that women generally do not possess these qualities and they are unfit for this profession. The findings of National Center for Women & Policing are relevant here. Twenty years of exhaustive research demonstrates that women police officers utilize a style of policing that relies less on physical force, and more on communication skills that defuse potentially violent situations. Yet despite this compelling research, women are severely under-represented in police departments, accounting for only 13.0% of police officers across the country. The numbers of women in law enforcement are kept artificially low by widespread discriminatory hiring and selection practices. Keeping women out of policing is not only depriving women of jobs, but is resulting in more police brutality (National Center for Women & Policing). Even though women lack physical power, they are better than men with respect to communication abilities. Communication is the blood of an organization, which travels from the bottom level to the top level. In the absence of communication, an organization is similar to a dead body. Since females have superior communication abilities, their services in the organizational world cannot be neglected. It should be noted that plenty of modern organizations are employing women in places where communication has more importance. The social and economic status of women will be increased a lot when they came out from kitchen and accept some profession. Dr. Benson et al. (2010) pointed out that “women in some cultures have been denied access to education or there may be no education system due to circumstances in their country” (p.359). The story a 15 year old Pakistani girl, Malala has shook the world recently. She was shot by the Muslim fundamentalists because of her effort to encourage education among Muslim girls. Some fundamental societies still prevent girls from attaining education. Such societies believe that education may help the women to know their rights better and they may come out from housewife profession and join some other economically beneficial professions. It should be noted that being a housewife means a service rather than a profession. In third world, women are denied even some of the fundamental rights and privileges which are so essential for the preservation of human dignity” (Dr. Ud din et al, p.468). “Whenever women make progress in their fight for equality, society lashes out at them, alternately calling into question their abilities as housewives or demanding their return to the home’” (Cohen, p.650). The story of Aisha, an Afghan teenage girl is relevant here. The story of Ayesha Bibi is relevant here. When Aisha was 12, her father promised her in marriage to a Taliban fighter to pay a debt. She was handed over to his family who abused her and forced her to sleep in the stable with the animals. When she attempted to flee, she was caught and her nose and ears were hacked off by her husband as punishment (Bates). Women in fundamental societies are denied even the basic rights. The dominant male community may not allow them to get education or to work. Women in Saudi Arabia cannot drive their vehicle. They should cover their entire body with some kind of clothing. In short, in fundamental societies women are still facing lot of discriminations. Economy of the country has nothing to do with the discrimination suffered by women. It should not be forgotten that Saudi Arabia is a wealthy country and still women are facing serious oppressions there. On the other hand, Africa is comparatively a poor economic region. Yet the contributions of women are respected in African societies. “In fact, traditional African society attached no importance to gender issues because every individual had a role to play both in the family as well as in the larger society” (Afisi, p.230). From the above observations, it is evident that economic stability has nothing to do with the poor conditions of women in a country. Instead, cultural aspects are contributing heavily to the second hand treatment received by women. “Women have always had lower status than men, but the extent of the gap between the sexes varies across cultures and time (some arguing that it is inversely related to social evolution)” (Mead) According to a UN report in 1980: “Women, who comprise half the worlds population, do two thirds of the worlds work, earn one tenth of the worlds income and own one hundredth of the worlds property” (Mead). Work in kitchens or in agricultural lands is regarded as non-productive by the majority of dominant male community. They label productive works as the works which bring financial gains. Since work in kitchen do not bring any financial gain, males often neglect such works. The above UN report says that even though the workloads of women are more compared to that of men, they are getting less financial gains. The conditions of housewife women can be summarised as: more works, less gains whereas that of the male community can be summarised as: less work, more gains. According to Lee (2010), “Being a Woman is a Handicap at Work. There was a glass partition (or shield) for women at work. The workplace did not welcome women marriage or motherhood” (p.204). It is often said that Sex is a biological construct whereas Gender is a social construct. There is no point in segregating or discriminating humans in terms of sex or gender. Natural differences with respect to sex are the contributions of the creator whereas the discriminations with respect to gender are the contributions of the society. Since both the sexes are equally important for the sustainment of human life in this world, there is no point in valuing the contributions of one gender over the other. It should be noted that a man could not conceive and give birth to a child. Same way, a female could not conceive without the help from the males. In short, the association of males and females are necessary for the sustainment of human life. One of the major objectives of life is sustainment of human life. For the sustainment of human life, the contributions from both the sexes are important, irrespective of what jobs or professions males or females engaged in. İnand (2009) also pointed out the glass shielding effect for women at work In many research studies, the barriers preventing women from career advancement have been found to be the existence of a glass ceiling; stereotypes about the sexes; obstacles resulting from societal structure; barriers resulting from family and womens point of view towards administration; barriers resulting from education, working hours, age and marital status; and career obstacles resulting from school organization and environment. It can be concluded that the glass ceiling produced by society to discriminate against women continues to exist. The men in todays societies prioritize womens duties as motherhood, and being a housewife and a spouse. In contrast, the activities of career development are perceived as being mens work (İnand,p.161) There are plenty of women in this world, who reject professional life for the sake of family life. However, there are many women professional who succeeded in balancing their family life with professional life. The social setups and the concepts of family are changing day by day. Kitchen work and child rearing are no more the women’s only jobs. Today’s husbands started to concentrate more on these aspects to maintain a healthy family atmosphere. It is difficult for a working wife to look after all the family jobs along with professional works. It is necessary for the husbands to share some of the family works to assist or help their wives. Some women believe that having a good husband is better than having a good job. However, majority of the modern women think in opposite direction because of the difficulties in getting an ideal life partner. Such women believe that having a good job is better than having a good husband. Nobody can blame those women who opt for a profession rather than satisfying with the status of being a housewife. The major reason for male domination in our society is the superior financial abilities of men over women. As mentioned earlier, men do believe that they are the ones who bring the revenue needed for the sustainment of family life. They may not notice the hard labour undertaken by the housewives in kitchens and agricultural lands. In order to get more recognition and freedom, women should work and earn revenue at least for their personal expenses. “Regardless of the title, even highly trained professionals such as physicians, attorneys, teachers and executives, struggled to look after family matters after a divorce” (Harkness, p.17). India is one of the rapidly emerging economies in the world. Being the largest democratic country in the world, people in India enjoys lot of freedom compared to people in other parts of the world. Moreover, women community is highly respected in Indian society. Yet the conditions of Middle and lower class women in India are not so good. When it comes to working hard, the average urban Indian homemaker, or “housewife” as she’s still routinely referred to, puts most of us to shame. She’s everything to everyone — the dutiful wife, caring mother and daughter-in-law; the cook, cleaner, and manager. Don’t be fooled if she has help from a maid, which is fairly common among India’s middle class. Managing domestic help can be a full time job in itself and doesn’t substitute for the everyday drudgery of housework that a housewife still performs (Subramanya). The above example from India clearly suggests that political systems of cultural values cannot improve the conditions of women beyond certain limit. Employment provides an opportunity to women to improve their social and financial status. Employed women are getting better husbands than the unemployed women. Teenage boys give preference to educated or employed females while they select their life partners. This is because of the fact that the earnings of two people provide better living standards than the earnings of a single person. Modern men and women are concerned about the financial stabilities of their family. Thus, transformation of women from housewife status to professional status is acceptable in most of the civilized societies at present even though there are certain exceptions. According to Amy Crooks (2006), “being a house wife is like any other profession. If you want it to work you need to run it like a well-oiled machine”(Crooks). Conclusions Some people believe that being a housewife is just like having any other profession whereas others are not ready to accept this claim. In any case, it is a fact that the responsibilities of a housewife is as important as the responsibilities of any other profession. The only difference between a housewife profession and other professions is with respect to financial gains. Housewives work hard without any financial gains or recognitions whereas other professionals work for such things. It is difficult for the modern generation to meet family expenses with the earnings of husbands alone. Moreover, a profession will give lot of financial freedom and other liberties to women. Their social status and living conditions can be improved with the help of a profession. Under such circumstances, it is better for housewives to opt for certain professions if the financial capacities of their families are not so good. Works Cited Afisi, Oseni Taiwo. “Power and Womanhood in Africa: An Introductory Evaluation”. 2010.The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.3, no.6, March 2010. Print Bates, Claire. The Smile that Defies the Taliban: Afghan Teenager Whose Mutilated Face Shocked the World Unveils Her New Image. Mail Online. Web. 14 November 2012. Cole, George. & Smith, Christopher. “The American System of Criminal Justice”. International Edition. Cengage Learning, 04-Feb-2009. Print Cohen, Emily Jane Kitschen Witches: Martha Stewart: Gothic Housewife, Corporate CEO., Journal of Popular Culture May2005, Vol. 38 Issue 4, p650. Print Crooks, Amy. “Thats Life. Life Goes On”. 2006. Web. 14 November 2012. Dr Benson Jill, Dr Maldari Toni, Williams Jan, Hanifi Hoda. “The Impact Of Culture And Ethnicity On Women’s Perceived Role In Society And Their Attendant Health Beliefs” InnovAiT, Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 358–365, 2010 doi:10.1093/innovait/inp227 Oxford University Press. Print Dr Ud Din Muhammad Naseer, Khan Faridullah, Khan Munir, Dr Khaleeq Abdul Rehman & Rani Imrana. “Perception of Women”. 2011. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business. Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 468 VOL 2, NO 10 FEBRUARY 2011. Print Grosko, Viv. “They Don’t Know How We Do It, and They Don’t Care Either”. 2005. New states woman. l 4 April 2005. Print Harkness, Helen. “Moving Through Career Chaos To Creativity”.2010. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal. Spring2010, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p17-25. Print İnandı, Yusuf. “The Barriers Hindering Female Teachers From Becoming School Principals”. 2009. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research (EJER). Jul 2009, Issue 36, p161-178. Print Lee, Yu-Jin The Meaning of Korean Womens Career-Leaving Experience .. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. 2010 p. 204 Print Mead, Margaret. “Gender and Society”. Web. 14 November 2012. “National Center for Women & Policing”. 2009. Web. 14 November 2012. Sethi, Nidhi. “Why Being A Housewife Is Worthy Of Praise”. 2012. Web. 14 November 2012. Subramanya, Rupa. “Economics Journal: Valuing the Indian Housewife”. The Wall Street Journal September 12, 2012. Web. 14 November 2012 http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/09/12/economics-journal-valuing-the-indian-housewife/?KEYWORDS=Economic+of+Race+and+Gender%3A+housewife Read More