The Changing Status of Women in Employment

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The Changing Status of Women in Employment Introduction The subject areas which I have chosen to focus on are work and employment and women. I have chosen these particular areas of sociology because as a female myself I am fascinated by the changing aspirations of women At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was considered that women would orientate to a domestic role, women were to dedicate their life to bearing and nursing children. Women were dependant on men for money and support; they faced discrimination at work and education as many opportunities were barred to them. The women's movement has challenged the conventional stereotype that "a woman's place is in the home," and many women now look beyond the archetypical housewife/mother role as their main role in life. In the last fifty years, the labour market has changed dramatically; women have obtained job opportunities that were previously denied to them. Women constituted 38% of the labour force in 1971 but almost half in 1988 (McDowell 1992) Hypothesis: "Women have more status in employment because it has become more socially acceptable for a woman to put her career before starting a family" I have chosen this hypothesis because I want to find out Aims: 1. If women have achieved equal status with men in employment. 2. If women are putting their careers before starting a family. 3. If this is socially acceptable and if this means that they have equal status in employment. (236) Methodology Having decided upon my research topic and hypothesis I have chosen to conduct questionnaires to find out if women are putting their career before starting a family, and if women have achieved equal status with men in employment. The advantages to this type of method are that questionnaires can be distributed to a large amount of people and therefore is possible to study a larger and more representative sample which provides an overall picture of society.

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