Women in the workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Women in the workforce - Essay Example Traditionally, some careers are male dominated such as engineering and fire fighting while others such as nursing are female dominated. These assigned on the basis that women show empathy while men are physically stronger. However, there has been a change in legislation and women allowed the careers of their choice. Despite this, women still prefer not to indulge in to some of the male dominions such as fire fighting. Only about 2.5% of all fire fighters are women (Kershaw, par3). However, when supported, they fare as well as their male counterparts. In the case of female involvement in engineering, it has for along time been assumed that they are less involved in engineering because they are poor performers in mathematics. However, a recent study shows that this is not the case. Women are less likely to pursue engineering even if they perform well in mathematics (Angier et al, par15). Dr Summers proposed that this is down women considering the profession as too abstract and dull (he gives an example of buying trucks to his daughter but she treats them like teddy bears) (Angier et al, par33). However, this view rejected on the basis that men treat their cars as if the cars are human (equivalent to the teddy bear treatment of the trucks) (Angier et al, par34). In the present day, there are strict labor regulations that provide for equivalent pay for men and women provided they have the same job description (Farrell, 20). Such legislature is in place for women empowerment and reduction of exploitation and stereotypes against them. However, some employers feel that men and women have a different work out put and go as far as barring their promotion or giving them an inferior wage. Morgan Stanley recently had to pay settlement rather than face a jury trial when faced with a charge of sex discrimination (Mc Geehan, par 1). This is just a high profile case and there are many such cases all