Women in the workforce

Women in the Workforce
            In modern society, gender difference is not only physical, but has been carried into the workforce as well, citing male preference in regards of wages, demand, andjob availability.
At the start of 1900 women still had few rights, no political rights and they had a very stereotypical role in society.  If married, they stayed at home to look after the childrenwhile their husband worked and brought in a weekly wage. If they were single, they would usually work in factories or as waitress. Most of the women were simply expected to get marry and havechildren.
Although female rights have highly increased in the past centuries, there is still a huge gap between the sexes. For instance, in the workforce, more jobs become cliché: “Elementary schoolteachers, for example, are overwhelmingly female; plumbers are overwhelmingly male.” (Ridgeway 97). This comes to show that stereotypes are without a doubt, still present in the workforce.
According toAngel Kwollek-Folland, author of “Incorporating Women, a history of women and business in the United States”, women working in high end jobs is slowly rising, for instance; in the 1900’s, the percentageof female attorney’s was 0.9, whereas in the 1990’s, almost a century later, the percentage increased to 22%. Not a major rise, but it shows a positive change. (Kwollek-Folland 172). While this may betrue, specialty jobs, such as those branched in highly technical duties like engineering, are rarely pursued by women. Jolee Snell, a student enrolled in the Engineering Program at UTSA says that“Only about 10 % of the students enrolled in the program are females, and only about 3 (individuals) of those females will actually graduate in the engineering field”.
Although the average amount of womenin these professions has increased, the numbers are a small fraction compared to those of males. Not only are the numbers smaller, but wages are minimal compared to those of the average male...