Women In The Workplace Affected The Family Structure

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Has woman working in the workplace affected the family structure? I am interested in this topic because I want to see how the women that work in the workplace affected the family structure from the past to the current. As Tracey Reynolds states in her article she says, “Mothers who worked full-time were just as concerned as those working part-time to 'be there' for their children and to meet the needs of their children and their family.” Women wanted to be able to go work to provide more for their families without the husbands doing all the work, and wanted to get out of the house to show they can do more things than just take care of their children. During these next couple of paragraphs I will explain how the lives of women changed from World …show more content…

This being said “But some women worked in professions and jobs available mostly to men. There were women doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers, writers, and singers” (“Women's History in America"). This shows that women could do anything that men can do and that they are capable of doing other occupations besides staying at home to take care of their children. Back then the men thought they had to do everything and just thought the women could just stay at home but the women were capable of doing more. When men left for World War II it forced women to take on jobs that men normally did. This had an impact on the family structure because both the mother and father were out of the house and not spending time with the children. After the war, women continued to work and take on additional responsibilities in their jobs. “From 1972 to 1985 women's share of professional jobs increased from 44 to 49 percent and their share of "management" jobs nearly doubled growing from 20 to 36 percent”(Guilder). During these years women could go into any field they wanted to go into but were only allowed to work a minimum number of hours. But even though women were working the same jobs as men, they were not getting paid the same amount for the same …show more content…

This would seem to be very hard for women to be out of the house, away from their family, and having to do that for less money. Dhara Shah explains that “Women also had a lower minimum wage rate than the men and had to balance their family life on in additional to all of that.” Women wanted the freedom to be able to work to provide more for their families but then had to deal with getting paid lower than minimum wage. At this point, many believed that the men should be paid higher minimum wage, and some still thought that women should stay at home and shouldn’t be working at all. However, women fought to get pay equality because they believed that they deserved they should get paid the same amount as men. As an article says “Women also begin to gain equality in the workforce. The equal pay act was enacted” (Shah). When this act was put into place, it made it easier for women to go back into the workplace to provide for their families. By this time many women had to work in the workforce to help earn income, which took them away from their