The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(October 2021) |
A career woman is a term which describes a woman whose main goal in life is to create a career for herself. [1] At the time that the term was first used in the 1930s American context, it was specifically used to differentiate between women who either worked in the home or worked outside the home in a low-level job as a economic necessity versus women who wanted to and were able to seek out jobs as careers. This meant jobs in professional or business occupations, with room for creativity, growth, and organizational expertise. Still women taking jobs without these attributes could still be considered 'career women' because of their goals, for example women who "wished to work not merely to support their families, but for a measure of personal economic independence, or as a byproduct of escaping from dull country life, or simply for the sociability of working with other women." [2]
Pre-World War II, most American women worked in the home and those who worked outside the home were mainly young and unmarried, or widowed. [3] The Census Bureau calculated that only 20 percent of women were earning a wage in the early 1900s and only 5 percent of those women were married. These numbers ignored the fact that many women's work in the home also included working in family businesses and producing goods for sale. They also ignore the differences in experience by women of different racial backgrounds. For example, "African American women were about twice as likely to participate in the labor force as were white women at the time." [4]
By the 1930, women's participation in the labor market had increased to around 50 percent for single women and 12 percent for married women. These numbers reflect the slowly changing societal expectations and opportunities for women's work. This was partly the result of the first-wave feminism, where women came together to push for more rights for women, including the right to vote. [4]
In the 1950s, "women with genuine career interest were described as both rare and maladjusted." While access to the option of being a 'career woman' continued to increase, the stigma remained. In the 50s and 60s though, an exception emerged. It was increasingly seen as appropriate for a married women to work if necessary to economically support the family or as long as her family and children came first. This 'new view' of career women was more acceptable because the traditional role of wife-mother remained the priority. If women demonstrated that their career came second, then it was tolerated if their career was also "a primary avenue of self-expression in the world world". [3] Even as these changes slowly opened opportunities for women in the workplace, "the very term "career woman" suggested pretentiousness or hard-boiled insensitivity and rejection of femininity." [3]
Despite these various stigmas, women's participation in the workforce has continued to increase in terms of total numbers, while the nature of jobs available to women has also widened. By the early 1990s, around 74 of 'working-age' women (25-54 years old) were part of the labor force. Women's work in various fields had also diversified, going beyond "the traditional fields of teaching, nursing, social work, and clerical work" and into fields formally only occupied by men, such as doctors and lawyers. [4]
There has been a long history of a gender pay gap, a phenomenon which continues to this day, where women with the same job titles and responsibilities as men receive less pay. The gap has narrowed over time, but in 2020 women still earned on average around 17 percent less than men and 10 percent less when comparing for nearly identical background and experience. [4]
Kyariaūman is the Japanese term for a woman, married or not, who pursues a career to make a living and for personal advancement, rather than being a housewife without occupation outside the home. The term came into use when women were expected to marry and become housewives after a short period working as an "office lady." The term is used in Japan to describe the counterpart to the Japanese salaryman; a career woman in Japan also works for a salary, and seeks to supplement her family's income through work or to remain independent by seeking an independent career. [5]
A housewife is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying and/or mending clothes for the family; buying, cooking, and storing food for the family; buying goods that the family needs for everyday life; partially or solely managing the family budget—and who is not employed outside the home. The male equivalent is the househusband.
In Japan, a freeter is a person aged 15 to 34 who is unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise lacks full-time paid employment. The term excludes housewives and students.
A parasite single is a single person who lives with their parents beyond their late 20s or early 30s to enjoy a more carefree and comfortable life. In Japanese culture, the term is especially used when negatively describing young unmarried women.
In macroeconomics, the labor force is the sum of those either working or looking for work :
An office lady, often abbreviated OL, is a female office worker in Japan who performs generally pink-collar tasks such as secretarial or clerical work. Office ladies are usually full-time permanent staff, although the jobs they perform usually have relatively little opportunity for promotion, and there is usually the tacit expectation that they leave their jobs once they get married.
A pink-collar worker is someone working in the care-oriented career field or in fields historically considered to be women's work. This may include jobs in the beauty industry, nursing, social work, teaching, secretarial work, upholstery, or child care. While these jobs may also be filled by men, they have historically been female-dominated and may pay significantly less than white-collar or blue-collar jobs.
The labor force in Japan numbered 65.9 million people in 2010, which was 59.6% of the population of 15 years old and older, and amongst them, 62.57 million people were employed, whereas 3.34 million people were unemployed which made the unemployment rate 5.1%. The structure of Japan's labor market experienced gradual change in the late 1980s and continued this trend throughout the 1990s. The structure of the labor market is affected by: 1) shrinking population, 2) replacement of postwar baby boom generation, 3) increasing numbers of women in the labor force, and 4) workers' rising education level. Also, an increase in the number of foreign nationals in the labor force is foreseen.
Geographic mobility is the measure of how populations and goods move over time. Geographic mobility, population mobility, or more simply mobility is also a statistic that measures migration within a population. Commonly used in demography and human geography, it may also be used to describe the movement of animals between populations. These moves can be as large scale as international migrations or as small as regional commuting arrangements. Geographic mobility has a large impact on many sociological factors in a community and is a current topic of academic research. It varies between different regions depending on both formal policies and established social norms, and has different effects and responses in different societies. Population mobility has implications ranging from administrative changes in government and impacts on local economic growth to housing markets and demand for regional services.
A double burden is the workload of people who work to earn money, but who are also responsible for significant amounts of unpaid domestic labor. This phenomenon is also known as the Second Shift as in Arlie Hochschild's book of the same name. In couples where both partners have paid jobs, women often spend significantly more time than men on household chores and caring work, such as childrearing or caring for sick family members. This outcome is determined in large part by traditional gender roles that have been accepted by society over time. Labor market constraints also play a role in determining who does the bulk of unpaid work.
A stay-at-home dad is a father who is the main caregiver of the children and is generally the homemaker of the household. The female equivalent is the stay-at-home mom or housewife. As families have evolved, the practice of being a stay-at-home dad has become more common and socially acceptable. Pre-industrialization, the family worked together as a unit and was self-sufficient. When affection-based marriages emerged in the 1830s, parents began devoting more attention to children and family relationships became more open. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, mass production replaced the manufacturing of home goods; this shift, coupled with prevailing norms governing sex or gender roles, dictated that the man become the breadwinner and the mother the caregiver of their children.
A mommy track is a path in a woman's life that puts priority to being a mother. It can also specifically refer to work arrangements for women in the workforce that facilitate motherhood, such as flexible hours, but at the same time usually provides fewer opportunities for career advancement. References to the mommy track often go along with being a housewife, "opting out" of the workforce, temporarily or even permanently. Women following the mommy track may be contrasted to career women who prioritize their careers more than having children.
Since the industrial revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women in the workforce contribute to a higher national economic output as measure in GDP as well as decreasing labor costs by increasing the labor supply in a society.
Occupational inequality is the unequal treatment of people based on gender, sexuality, age, disability, socioeconomic status, religion, height, weight, accent, or ethnicity in the workplace. When researchers study trends in occupational inequality they usually focus on distribution or allocation pattern of groups across occupations, for example, the distribution of men compared to women in a certain occupation. Secondly, they focus on the link between occupation and income, for example, comparing the income of whites with blacks in the same occupation.
This page examines the dynamics surrounding women in Tajikistan.
The lives, roles, and rights of women in Chile have gone through many changes over time. Chilean women's societal roles have historically been impacted by traditional gender roles and a patriarchal culture, but throughout the twentieth century, women increasingly involved themselves in politics and protest, resulting in provisions to the constitution to uphold equality between men and women and prohibit sex discrimination.
A kyariaūman (キャリアウーマン) is a Japanese term for a career woman. The term refers to the type of Japanese woman, married or not, that pursues a career to make a living and for personal advancement rather than being a housewife without occupation outside the home. The term came into use when women were expected to marry and become housewives after a short period working as an "office lady".
A working parent is a father or a mother who engages in a work life. Contrary to the popular belief that work equates to efforts aside from parents' duties as a childcare provider and homemaker, it is thought that housewives or househusbands count as working parents. The variations of family structures include, but are not limited to, heterosexual couples where the father is the breadwinner and the mother keeps her duties focused within the home, homosexual parents who take on a range of work and home styles, single working mothers, and single working fathers. There are also married parents who are dual-earners, in which both parents provide income to support their family. Throughout the 20th century, family work structures experienced significant changes. This was shown by the range of work opportunities each parent was able to take and was expected to do, to fluctuations in wages, benefits, and time available to spend with children. These family structures sometimes raise much concern about gender inequalities. Within the institution of gender, there are defined gender roles that society expects of mothers and fathers that are reflected by events and expectations in the home and at work.
In 2021, China ranked 48th out of 191 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index (GII). Among the GII components, China's maternal mortality ratio was 32 out of 100,000 live births. In education 58.7 percent of women age 25 and older had completed secondary education, while the counterpart statistic for men was 71.9 percent. Women's labour power participation rate was 63.9 percent, and women held 23.6 percent of seats in the National People's Congress. In 2019, China ranked 39 out of the 162 countries surveyed during the year.
The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted versus adjusted pay gap. The latter typically takes into account differences in hours worked, occupations chosen, education and job experience. In the United States, for example, the non-adjusted average woman's annual salary is 79–83% of the average man's salary, compared to 95–99% for the adjusted average salary.
In World War II, many working-age men were drafted into the armed forces to fight abroad. During this time, women were drafted in to take their places in factories and construction. When WWII ended, most men came home; while many were unable or unwilling to return to their old jobs, there was not the same urgency for women to be in the workplace. As such, society had to deal with new attitudes and expectations regarding women’s employment.