"Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” Kofi Annan
Women were considered pieces of property rather than people who stand by their husbands, with very little to no education, and did not venture out of the house. Their job was to raise the children, care for the house, and cook. This what would be later called separate spheres. This is where men and women would work in different places, men in the social world and women in the domestic world.
Historically, women have been seen as a weaker sex, needing protection from the dangers of the social world, and seen as only domestic housekeepers. Companies have used gender stereotypes and the belief that men and women are genetically different to prevent women from working. In 1848, the first fight for women’s right when the convention at Seneca Falls, New York, where 100 people came together to make the Declaration of Sentiments. It outlined equal treatment between men and women under the law and the right for women to vote. May 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton found the Women Suffrage Association to fight for the ability for women to vote. Rosalind Barnett stated, in 1900, 40 percent of women who were single were employed versus the five percent of married women (Barnett, Pg. 668). This shows family and childcare are more important than the importance of working.
It was not until the19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed on August 26, 1920 were women given the write to vote. For only a little more than a hundred years women have been able make their voices heard about topics they thought important. in the 1920’s, WWII was going on and Rosie the riveter was born. This was when women took over men’s factory jobs to help the war so men could go fight. One of the greatest inventions for women was in 1960, in the form of a pill. The birth control pill gave women the freedom and for the first time to be able to regulate their body. June 10, 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal for men to be paid more than women for doing the same work. Within the next year, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act making it a federal law that a person cannot be discriminated against based on their race or gender. President Barrack Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Which allows a women who feels their have been wage discriminated against to file a report with the government now 180 days from last pay check rather than 180 days from the first unequal paycheck.
Historically, women have been seen as a weaker sex, needing protection from the dangers of the social world, and seen as only domestic housekeepers. Companies have used gender stereotypes and the belief that men and women are genetically different to prevent women from working. In 1848, the first fight for women’s right when the convention at Seneca Falls, New York, where 100 people came together to make the Declaration of Sentiments. It outlined equal treatment between men and women under the law and the right for women to vote. May 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton found the Women Suffrage Association to fight for the ability for women to vote. Rosalind Barnett stated, in 1900, 40 percent of women who were single were employed versus the five percent of married women (Barnett, Pg. 668). This shows family and childcare are more important than the importance of working.
It was not until the19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed on August 26, 1920 were women given the write to vote. For only a little more than a hundred years women have been able make their voices heard about topics they thought important. in the 1920’s, WWII was going on and Rosie the riveter was born. This was when women took over men’s factory jobs to help the war so men could go fight. One of the greatest inventions for women was in 1960, in the form of a pill. The birth control pill gave women the freedom and for the first time to be able to regulate their body. June 10, 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal for men to be paid more than women for doing the same work. Within the next year, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act making it a federal law that a person cannot be discriminated against based on their race or gender. President Barrack Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Which allows a women who feels their have been wage discriminated against to file a report with the government now 180 days from last pay check rather than 180 days from the first unequal paycheck.
TITLE VII and Affirmative Action
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, generally applies to all employers with fifteen or more employees and makes it illegal to discriminate in employment practices on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, and religion. In contrast affirmative action does not apply to all employers. It only applies by law to employers with fifty or more employees who have contracts with the federal government for $50,000 or more. In all other sectors of employment affirmative action is a voluntary policy adopted to create an equal, diverse, and fair workplace. The distinction between the two can be viewed as explained by Harry Holzer and David Neumark in their research questioning the effectiveness of affirmative action, “In principle, at least, Affirmative Action can be distinguished from other anti-discrimination measures by requiring pro-active steps (hence the phrase "affirmative") to erase differences between women and men, minorities and non-minorities, etc., in contrast to laws that only prevent employers from taking steps that disadvantage minorities in the labor market, such as refusing to hire them.”
Affirmative action’s most basic definition is the intentional inclusion of women and minorities in the workplace based on a finding of their previous exclusion. Corporate jobs for example that have typically been held by a dominant male work population began to see an increase in women being hired and promoted due to affirmative action policies being adopted. Affirmative action and its related policies have had a positive effect on women in corporate American by helping them to break through the glass ceiling. Although gender was added to affirmative action as a protected category in 1968, by the 1970s most women still held traditional jobs such as teachers, nurses, and secretaries. The dynamic changed however, in 1969 with President Nixon’s expansion of affirmative action to require those subject to its policies to create goals and timetables to ensure appropriate hiring of protected classes.