Term Papers on Unequal Opportunities In The Women’s Workforce

Term Paper Title	Unequal Opportunities In The Women’s Workforce
# of Words	1664
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.66

Unequal Opportunities in the Women’s Workforce

     Unequal opportunities in the workforce today are becoming more and more visual
to society than in the past.  Women’s participation in employment has increased
substantially in most industrial nations during recent decades and have become more
economically equal to men.  “However, the labor market conditions of women still differ
significantly from those of men e.g. with respect to hours of paid work, hours of home
work, level of earnings, and the rate of unemployment.” (Schmid and Weitzel 44)  The
most striking difference between men and women on the labor market is the work they do.
Men and women are, to a great extent, found in different spheres of economic activity and
occupations, and within most occupations they are employed at different levels and with
different work tasks.  This paper focuses on economic equality as described by the pattern
of occupational distribution of men and women.
     “There are several reasons why the occupational concentration of men and women
deserves special attention.  First, the strength and persistence of this social phenomenon in
itself is such that it warrants a search for explanations.  Second, other differences between
men and women on the labor market, concerning e.g. wages, working conditions, work
absenteeism, are related to differences in occupational distribution.” (Schmid and Weitzel
44)  However, it is not established whether occupation alone contributes to these
disparities or whether a common underlying process causes the inequality of working
conditions.  “Third, the occupational distribution of men and women is of interest from the
perspective of discrimination in the labor market.” (Schmid and Weitzel 44)  One way to
discriminate is by restricting the access of women or men to certain occupations.  Further,
if discrimination through wage differentiation is restricted by law or agreements,
employers may increasingly resort to employment discrimination.
     “We all know that in earlier times bright women who wanted to live lives out of
the ordinary faced incredible obstacles, but it is hard to imagine just how formidable they
were.  Women could not even vote.  They were disqualified from serving on juries.  If
married, they could not own property---it was the husband who would hold legal title.
They could not enter into contracts that would hold up in court.  If they divorced, they
automatically lost custody of their children.  “By marriage, husband and wife are one
person in law: that is, the very being of the legal existence of the women is suspended
during the marriage,” is how old English common law was written down by Blackstone in
the 1760s. Susan B. Anthony would mend this to “Husband and wife are one, and that one
is the husband.” Marriage both secured a woman’s place in society and secured a yoke of
servitude around her neck.” (Dusky 142)
     “I had a young girl, she filed an application for employment with me.  I looked and
she was a law clerk with a federal judge, she was a magna cum laude, law review, and all
these things.  She came in and had an interview. It was a perfect interview.  I had
everything.  All her little files were in the right place, she asked the right questions.  Thank
you very much.  She was very impressive.  A young man comes in, I look at his file, it has
nothing---not anything stellar or outstanding.  He had graduated from law school.  That’s
about all he had.  And I sat, and concentrated on which one to offer the job to for three
days...so I hired the girl.  And then it dawned on me.  I should have hired her.  It shouldn’t
have taken me two minutes.  I just had an internal visceral reaction that a lawyer---a man
lawyer---is going to be better than a female lawyer.” (Dusky 148)
     The biases women face when they go out job hunting with a fresh sheepskin from
law school are much more subtle than they were a few decades ago.  “Women are not
likely to be told that women are not hired as lawyers or that the firm “had their women.”
Lawyers are not ...

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