Contributed by Tia N.
When my mom was in the hospital, I was shocked at how many of the nurses were men. Even some of the nursing assistants were men. Meanwhile, all of her doctors were women.
When I look at my family, the women all have high-powered positions while the men have lower managerial positions. Even in my career, for the past ten years all of my bosses have been women. This shift is reflected in the Pew Research Report, A Gender Reversal On Career Aspirations. Why the change? Here are a few factors that have contributed to this shift.
Politics. With the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments in 1972, young women were provided more opportunities to attend college, ensuring female students had a chance to become as educated as male students and enabling women to occupy careers in fields such as medicine, engineering, politics that were previously off-limits.
Lifestyle. As more women needed to enter the workforce for economic reasons, men were no longer the sole breadwinners and women were not necessarily the primary caregivers. The result is that growing numbers of fathers began taking a more prominent, even lead, role in taking care of the kids.
Economics. Women still get paid less then men (even in ‘pink’ collar jobs). When the recession came and companies were downsizing, they were more apt to get rid of the higher-paid male managers, leaving women in the work force to assume managerial the responsibilities currently handled by their male counterparts.
What other factors do you think have contributed to the change in career paths for women? We invite you to share your ideas in the comment box below.
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