Is it still a man's world? Women have struggled in the fight for equality for centuries. Most of today's women are satisfied with their rights. Should they be? Acceptance of the way things are brings a scary fate without change.
Women in today's society have become too comfortable and have left the fight for equal rights unfinished with unacceptable results. There are many reasons why women should continue to fight for equal rights. Families are still raising their daughters with thoughts of the past in mind, not the future. Lower salaries are being accepted. Men are paid more than women at the same job with the same qualifications. Women jump through hoops for a promotion, but yet men are constantly being chosen over them. Yes, women have come a long way, but still have not achieved one hundred percent equality in the workplace.
A tradition is an inherited pattern or way of life (Merriam, 1997). Women's biggest problem in career growth is how she was raised. In the 1800's, young girls were raised with the understanding that bearing children and being responsible for the home was her primary role as a being (Samuels, 1995). Women have fought to change that idealized role in society. Even though women do not want to be viewed as slaves to the household, they are still involved in raising their little girls with that very idea.
Constantly parents push their little girls into hopes of marriage and raising children of their own. The world's daughters need to be encouraged to be able to stand on their two feet and claim careers and their own success stories. There is nothing wrong with having babies or being a good wife; however, parents are crippling their daughters by making that the very goal of their lives. Could this be the very reason why men still dominate women in the workforce? The future generations of women are being raised to accept being second-class citizens. “(Man) uses her (woman) as the instrument of his pleasure… he furnishes himself with a housekeeper, whose chief business is in the kitchen, or the nursery, and whilst he goes abroad,” states Sarah Grimke, a well known female rights activist of the 1800's (Grimke, 1837).
Women do not need to cripple the next generation with these evil thoughts. In the past, men have shaped women into the molds of his desires. Women should go forth and allow their daughters to seek their own destiny and to create their own molds. “The most powerful obstacles to a girls' education are poverty and tradition. But these can be changed (Ntaiya, 2004).” These powerful words are from the young, Kakenya Ntaiya. She is a youth advisor from Africa for the United Nations Population Fund. Her experience of overcoming poverty and traditions is an inspiration to all women. Her tribe in the Maasai village believes that women belong to their husbands and to the kitchen. The Maasai girls are raised with the only thought of becoming a good wife to her future husband, most likely to be wed at age twelve. Kakenya broke the cycle of her tribe by begging her father to allow her to finish her education. She also begged her community members to allow her to go to the United States to go to college. It is because of young, motivated women like Kakenya that traditions can be broken. Traiditions can be changed, but it starts with each individual woman.
Did you know that a woman will lose more than $523,000 in her lifetime according to the most recent United States Census (Keller, 2000)? Discrimination in the workplace hurts women's pocketbooks. Women are held at higher standards but are continually robbed in their paychecks. A man with the same qualifications as a woman is started at a higher pay rate. Why is that? There are so many men on top of corporations that control women's salaries and promotions. Until women dominate the top of “Corporate America,” pay scales will never be fair. This also is an effect of traditions discussed previously. Traditions effect the motivation of women to reach the top.
According to Vicky Lovell, the study director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research, women are discriminated on the pay scales even with the work experience and training that is noted on their resume. Women earn eighty-eight cents on a man's dollar with the same experience and qualifications. At a national average, women as a whole earn seventy-three cents to a man's dollar (Keller, 2000). That is a huge gap in pay. To be fair, this census did include all women in all working positions including full-time and part-time positions. Even with that in mind, that is a huge number of American women that are being ripped-off by their employers. Studies show that it will be approximately fifty years before women catch up to men's salaries. It will take an African-American woman a whopping seventy-five years (Stone, 2004). Women, as a whole, need to become more active in fighting for equal pay. The United States has passed the Equal Pay Act, but what good is it if it is not enforced? If a woman finds that she is underpaid due to her gender, it is her responsibility to report it. If the problem isn't handled correctly or handled at all, she needs to take it to the courtroom. If women continually allow their employers to discriminate against them, then the problem will never cease.
Why is it that the majority of women do not reach the top? Is it due to poor performances? Maybe that is the case sometimes, but most of the time it is from being overlooked by male employers. Judy Joy (real name is kept disclosed) is an example of this issue. She has been with her job for four years. When she began her job, she made sure to inform her male district manager of her personal interests in growing in the company. He told her of the numerous things that she needed to work on and certain experiences that she needed to gain. She worked on the things that he needed her to work on and she even took on a lower position just to get the extra experience that she needed to move up. In time, her store manager told her district manager that she was ready for her next step. She was told to transfer to another store to gain even more experience. She did as she was told. Then, her new store manager told the district manager that she was ready to move up. Four store transfers later, she was told that a new store was opening up. If she was interested in making this “last” move, then she would set up the department, train the new manager, and then would be promoted within a month.
She agreed to move to a store that was a further drive for her if she was to be promoted. After Brandi had opened the department, she noticed a new male manager in the building. She was curious as to who he was, so she introduced herself. He introduced himself as the new presentation manager, the job in which she had been chasing for nearly four years. When she had asked the district manager about why she did not get the job, he replied that the man had more experience and then walked away. Experiences like this happen all the time. Men claim that reason why women are not at the top is due to lack of motivation. Judy was extremely motivated. She transferred and moved her personal belongings to six different store locations. Judy worked very hard and deserved it. That was the very reason that made her start to think that she needed to continue her education. Education is something that no man on the planet can take away. Men have kept their place at the top of corporations. Also, men look at for other men. In Judy's case, she was pushed and pushed to work and to perform. A man held a promotion over her head because he knew how bad she wanted and needed it. She was used to his advantage and then left in the cold. Unfortunately, that is the heart of male-dominated careers.
Women have come a long way when compared to today and the past; women still have a long way to go to achieve equality and fairness in the workplace. Women have some fault in the drive for success. “(Women) are brought up with the absurd idea, that marriage is a kind of preferment; and that to be able to keep their husband's house, and render his situation comfortable, is the end of her being (Grimke, 1837). Traditions are a woman's identity if allowed to be. These traditions can be changed, if women change them. According to Victor Fuchs, a woman's role as a wife and mother negatively affects her successes in her career by limiting her education which limits her promotions and salaries (Samuels, 1995). Women continually struggle for promotions.
Evaluations for job performances happen all the time, but the trick is keeping it fair for both genders, according to Karen Nussbaun of AFL-CIO's Working Women (Keller, 2000). The numbers and statistics of this paper are real and frightening. The numbers and statistics cannot be argued by men due to most articles and studies used for this paper are in fact told from different perspectives and most of these studies are conducted by men themselves. A ridiculous article about a study, that a man performed, concluded that men are smarter than women. The researcher, John Philippe Rushton, performed 20,000 verbal tests taken by university students across the world. It revealed that on average, men's IQ's are five points higher than women's.
However, in argument to his data, he had twice as many women who took the tests than men (Clerkin, 2006). The man who performed that test was drastically grasping at straws to prove that the reason why men are at the top of their careers is not because of discrimination, but because of men's IQ's. Mr. Rushton's theory is squashed due to faulty analysis. Women need to be informed of where they stand in society and in their careers. When a woman is informed, what is she going to do to impact a change? Every woman has that responsibility. Women need to stand up and make their voice heard that “almost” equal is not acceptable.
译文:
女性权利：平等的工作待遇
这个世界还是男人的吗？多个世纪以来妇女都在努力争取平等权。今天的大多数妇女对自己享有的权利感到了满足。她们应该吗？接受目前这样的情况势必会带来恐怖的命运。
在当今社会，妇女变得过于安逸了，并已离开了争取平等权利的未完成的与不能接受的结果。妇女要继续努力争取平等权的原因有很多。许多家庭不以未来的观念却在用过去的思想来教育他们的女儿。妇女都在接受较低薪水的待遇。有同样的资历，做同样的工作，男人的收入就是比较多。虽然女人经过努力拼搏后可以得到提拔，但是男人总是被优先选择。是的，妇女已取得了许多进步。但是，她们在工作待遇方面还没赢得100%的平等。
传统是一种继承模式或生活方式（梅里厄姆， 1997年）。影响妇女职业发展的最大问题是她是怎样成长的。在19世纪，年轻女孩就被教养成懂得以生育孩子和照顾家庭为主要生存目的的人（萨谬斯，1995年）。妇女已经在努力去改变她们那种被社会理想化的角色。尽管她们不想被视为家庭的奴隶，但她们还是把这种思想作为教养女儿的一部分。
一直以来，父母都会鼓励女儿去期待婚姻和生育自己的孩子。我们则要鼓励这个世界的女儿们能够坚定立场，讲述职业与她们自己的成功故事。生小孩与做个好妻子并没有什么不对。然而，父母正在用他们所理解的生活目标来残害他们的女儿。这就是为什么男人在工作待遇方面仍然优先于女人吗？女人的后代子孙正被当作第二阶级公民来教养。“男人把女人当成取乐的乐器来用……他给自己提供了一个专门在厨房或婴儿室工作的管家，而同时他出国了。”莎拉格里姆克说。她是19世纪的一个著名女权活动家（格里姆克，1837年）。
妇女不需要拿这些恶毒的思想来残害下一代。在过去，男人已把女人塑造成他理想中的模样。妇女应该向前看并允许她们的女儿去寻找自己的命运，塑造自己的个性。“贫穷和传统对一个女孩的教育来说是最强大的阻碍。但这些是可以改变的（Ntaiya, 2004年）。”这些有力的话出自年轻的Kakenya Ntaiya。她来自非洲，是联合国人口基金会的一名青年顾问。她那克服贫穷和传统的经历激励着所有的妇女。在马赛村，她的部落认为女人是属于她们丈夫和厨房的。马赛女孩从小就被教导要做她们未来丈夫的好妻子。她们在12岁时就很可能结婚了。Kakenya恳求她父亲让她完成学业，打破了部落的传统循环。她还恳求社团成员让她到美国读大学。正是因为有像Kakenya一样积极的年轻女人，传统才能被打破。传统可以改变，但要从每一个女人开始。
你知道据美国人口普查的最新报道说一个女人一生中将会失去523，000多美元吗（凯勒，2000年）？工作待遇的区别对待会砸到女人的钱袋子。女人被推行更高的标准，但她们的收入又总是被抢走。一个有同样资历的男人一开始就获得了较高的报酬。那是为什么呢？有如此多的男人位居公司最高层并操控着女人的薪水和提职。直到女人爬上公共美国的最高职位，工资等级才会平等。这也是先前讨论的关于传统的一个影响。传统对女人要达到事业颠峰的积极性有影响作用。
维基·洛弗尔是妇女政策研究所的研究主任。她说妇女在工资等级方面会受到区别对待，甚至被在她们的简历上注明劳动实习并且训练。妇女同样的工作经验和资历赚取88美分而男人却可以得到1美元。按照全国平均水平，妇女整体上挣得73美分，男人则挣得1美元（凯勒， 2000年）。这是一个在酬劳上的巨大差距。公正地说，这次人口普查确实包括全职和兼职的所有岗位的所有妇女。即使在心里有那样的想法，那很多也是被老板讹诈的美国妇女。研究表明大约再过50年，妇女才能达到男人的收入水平。它将花去非洲裔美国妇女高达75年的时间（斯通, 2004年）。女人作为一个整体要更加积极争取平等的薪水待遇。虽然美国已经通过了同酬法案，但是如果它没有被强制实施又有什么用呢？如果一名妇女发现因为性别关系她所得的酬劳过低，那么她就有义务报道出来。假如这个问题没有正确处理或处理不了，那她就需要将它带到法庭上解决。如果女人连续地允许老板歧视她们，那这个问题将永远不能解决。
为什么大部分妇女没有达到她们事业的颠峰呢？是因为表现不好吗？也许有的时候是这样，但大多数时候是因为男老板没有考虑她们。朱迪·乔伊（真名保密）就是这种问题的一个例子。她已工作4年了。开始工作时，她就将在公司发展的个人利益肯定地告诉她的男行政经理。经理告知她需要做大量的事情，需要增加一定经验。她做着他所交代的事，即使是担任一个比较低的职务也只为获取自己需要的额外经验。过了一段时间之后她的部门经理跟她的行政经理说她已为下一项工作做好准备。有人通知她要转到另一个部门以增加更多的经验。她照办了。然后，新部门经理又跟行政经理说她已准备好了做下一个工作。经过4次调动后，她被告知将有新部门成立。如果她有兴趣做的话，可以先提议，然后设立新部门，训练新经理，然后她将在一个月内被提升。
如果能得到晋升，她就同意转到让自己更有干劲的部门。在布兰迪开设这个部门后，她在大楼里注意到一位新男经理。她对他是谁感到好奇，所以向他做了自我介绍。他则以新上任经理的身份来介绍自己。她对这个工作职位追逐了将近4年。当她问行政经理她为什么没有得到这个职位时，他回答说男人有更多经验，然后就走了。此类事情经常发生。男人声称女人之所以没有居高位是因为缺乏积极性。朱迪非常积极。她先后搬迁个人财物到六个不同的工作场所。她工作很努力。应得这个职位。正是这个原因让她开始考虑继续进行她的学业。教育是地球上的男人不能带走的东西。男人处于公司的最高层，再说，男人会考虑其他男人。根据朱蒂的情况，她总是被推着去做事。一个男人晋升为她的上司是因为他知道她有多想要那个职位。他利用她作为自己的优势，然后排斥她。很不幸，那是男人控制事业的实质。拿今天与过去相比，女人已经历了很多磨难。为了获取平等的工作待遇她们还有很长的路要走。女人在追寻成功时会犯一些错误。女子被一种荒谬的思想教养长大。这种思想就是结婚是一种晋升。能够为丈夫照顾家庭并给他提供舒适的生活环境就是身为女人的目标（格里姆克， 1837年 ） 。如果被允许的话，传统就是一个女人的身份。如果女人要改变这些传统，它们就可以被改变。据维克托富克斯说，一个女人担任了妻子和母亲这两种角色限制了她的教育，从而限制了她的升迁和薪金，也会对她在事业上的成功发展产生不利影响（塞缪尔斯，1995年）。妇女不断地为晋升奋斗着。
据劳联-产联的工作妇女Karen Nussbaun说，对工作表现的评估一直发生，但是这计谋让两性的员工觉得公平。报纸上的数字和数据是真实的也是可怕的。男人不能对这些数字和数据进行争辩。这是因为报纸所采用的大部分文章和研究事实上是从不同的角度来说的，而且大多数的研究是男人自己进行的。一篇关于男人做的研究的荒唐文章认为男人比女人聪明。研究人员约翰·菲利普·拉什顿对世界各地的大学生进行了20，000次的口头测试。结果显示男性的智商平均比女性高5点。
然而，在对他的数据进行辩论的过程中，参加测试的女人是男人的2倍（Clerkin， 2006年）。做那种测试的男人是不会放过任何微小的机会来证明男人可以爬上他们事业的颠峰不是因为区别待遇，而是因为男人的智商。拉什顿先生的理论由于错误的分析被否定了。妇女需要被告知她们在社会上以及职场上的地位。当一名妇女被告知时，她将做什么来影响一种变化呢？每个妇女都有那样的责任。妇女需要站起来，让世人听到她们的呼声。平等是不能接受的。