Let me preface this article with this: I am a feminist who believes in total and complete equality and equity. I’m a Sociology major, and with that comes the adoption of certain ideals. For me, feminism was one of them. I have the modern women’s movement on my mind since we recently spoke about it in my Social Statistics and in my Leadership Studies classes. The discussion started on a Thursday in my Leadership Studies class when I gave a presentation on gender and leadership. Never in my life would I think that I would stand in front of a group of 18+ year olds and have to defend and give explanations as to why women were given a disadvantage in the work force. Despite providing multiple studies, proven over and over again that women are – in fact – not given the same advantages as men in the workforce, I still received comments from the class like: “Well, maybe women just don’t take advantage of opportunities”, “I think it’s more of a mental thing for women”, and “Women just put themselves in that position”.
Um – What the heck?
It’s 2017. It’s time to sit down and have individuals recognize that true feminism is not an attack on the male gender, but the promotion of equality. It’s time for everyone to realize the roots of inequality, especially how we are socialized. In the United States, it typically includes the assumption that women are expected to stay in and care for the home and children, and for the men to bring home the bulk of the income. Women are also perceived to mind their tongue so they do not come off rigid. These stereotypes are perpetuated from childhood as young girls are given baby dolls and kitchen sets to play with while boys are given firetrucks and Legos. Girls are more likely given toys that center around home life while boys are given toys that encourage travel or logical reasoning.
Despite these stereotypes when compared to men, women are more likely to earn high school degrees, AA, Bachelor’s, Graduate, and Doctoral degrees. While women make up nearly 51% of the population, they only occupy about 14% of the top tier positions (government positions, CEOs, etc.). This seems like something a little more serious than “women just not taking advantage of opportunities”.
This raises the question of how are women so severely underrepresented in leadership positions despite the fact that they tend to be more educated. In my Social Statistics class after discussing this topic, I had an epiphany: women gain more education to compensate for the negative workplace stereotypes associated with the gender. Women want to make themselves more desirable by gaining more education than their male counterparts to be taken seriously in the workplace. Women must prove that they are just as, or more motivated and committed than male interviewees by proving they are fully motivated and committed to complete a degree. Why are we hiring based on gender rather than hiring on ability?
Just food for thought.