Lauren Weiland Professor Bedell Cas 137H Paradigm Shift Paper October 22, 2012 Superwoman Woman: a female

human being. This word symbolizes much more than its two syllables suggest. This term has a lot of associated connotations; a woman has responsibilities, social pressures, and roles to fulfill, overcome, and balance. There once was a time when only a few terms were correlated with being a woman. Once a woman only represented such roles as mother, wife, and homemaker. Today the word woman elicits an entirely new set of associations. Perhaps a better overarching descriptive word of a woman in todays world is superwoman. Todays women are expected to fulfill a slew of modern, untraditional characteristics such as provider, college graduate, and career holder all while embodying beauty. A paradigm shift has occurred what exactly is associated with being a woman. Through a combination of social demands, personal aspirations, and persistent stereotypes about femininity the roles and expectations of women are inarguably more complex than they have ever been. In the days before World War II, the words of Betty Friedan, and the Civil Rights Movement, women were subjected to living a very molded lifestyle. They grew up knowing that someday they would marry and their husbands would be the sole providers. Their role in society was in the family unit. During this time period, it was very rare to find a woman working outside the household. If a woman were to work outside the home, she was most likely a widow or working alongside her husband. In the years leading up to the 1900s, women were seen as the

Weiland 2

inferior sex (Womens Role in Todays Society). Their jobs were contained within the homemaker realm, limited to maintaining husband satisfaction, child rearing, and running the household. Anything not associated with maintaining the household was viewed as a mans job. The man supported the family unit financially, by going out into the community to earn the days living. It was a mans job to be educated with a skill. A woman was not seen as capable of anything more than womens work. As the weaker sex, a womens role was very defined and for that reason the complexity of life for a woman during this time period was minimal. Women were very slow to enter the workforce. Those that attempted to break barriers were met with strict limits on what they could and could not do. They were confined to womanly jobs such as working in a retail business, running a tavern, or becoming a seamstress. It was not until World War II that a great number of jobs suddenly welcomed and enabled women to enter the workforce. The men were abroad fighting for their country so, someone needed to put food on the table. The social demands of world war II forced women to provide for their families. The economy of this time period demanded 96% of single, 98% of widows and 57% of married women to go to work. It was the only way to make ends meet (women in the workforce). Out of this desperation, a new view of a woman was born. Rosie the Riveter was a woman who could do it! A woman can work a screwdriver just as well as a man (glass ceiling). Only the preworld war II paradigm was stopping her from taking on a permanent role outside the household. The seeds for the shift in understanding a womans capabilities were sown out of necessity, but they have had lasting effects which are still being felt today. This is the first time in history women were seen as contributing members of society. They were the driving force that clothed, fed, and manufactured protection for the men fighting overseas. As world war II came to an end, so too did the traditional view of a womans job description. When the war ended the number of

Weiland 3

women who returned to the traditional role of homemaker was minimal in comparison to those who stayed in the workforce to defend their newfound independence. The social upheaval of the 1960s was the perfect opportunity for larger numbers of women to enter the workforce. The feminist movement was in full swing. Women pushed to be seen as equals in society. They wanted the same treatment, pay, and opportunities as those presented to men. Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique urged housewives everywhere to fight for a bigger cause. She called women to take control of their own destinies. She urged women to believe they could serve a greater purpose. These words became the voice of American womens silent aspirations. Women began to believe their quality of life would improve if they got a job, supported themselves, and did not depend solely on their husbands to dictate their fate (The Glass Ceiling). The movement was successful and the United States government passed many laws to protect the rights of women and minorities in the workforce. The most defining law or them all was the Civil Right Act of 1964. This forbid the discrimination of employers based on race, creed, color, or sex (Glass ceiling). Following this act, women streamed into the workforce and broke barriers by going to college, receiving educations, and competing with men for powerful positions in society. A survey by the Roper Poll for Fortune magazine in 1936 reported only 15% of Americans believed women should hold full time jobs outside of the home. The same survey was conducted in 1976 and this time 68% of Americans supported the notion that women should hold full time jobs outside of the household (women in workforce). A lot happened in the thirty years between the two surveys. A world war, social revolution, and a book all contributed to the modern day role of a woman.

Weiland 4

The roles of women are still changing. There is no defined job set today, as there was in the days before the 1940s. The only trait which has remained constant throughout the paradigm is femininity. Women have been granted freedoms to vote, attend school and work. It seems the the more rights women receive, the more they want (Womens Role in Todays Society). However, women will forever be limited from being male equals simply because they will never be male. Physically, emotionally, and mentally men and women are two completely different entities. They are capable of the same intelligence and can work along side each other, but a woman cannot lose that which makes her feminine. Women do not want to be men, they just want to be treated as equals capable of making the same contributions to society (Womens Role in Todays Society). Competitive, ambitious, tough, objective, and aggressive are not descriptive words to which a woman would respond positively (executive suite). Most women pride themselves in the fact that they are women, embracing the ideology of feminine beauty and domestic abilities. Women want to hold careers, but they also dont want to lose that which makes them the nurturing sex. It is a delicate balancing act. A woman is not limited to just one aspect of life as she was in the past. She is free to excel in the business world, but she must remain true to her nature. Women have been viewed as the weaker sex throughout most of history. It takes time for this view to change. They might be granted equal rights, but there are still aspects of life which are not common between men and women. Instead of swapping one role for another, the modern woman is simply a cross between the traditional woman and the executive in the board room. The demands on a woman are still the same. Women are still the only ones who can bear children and they still play the larger role in the running of the household. Retaining husband satisfaction is an important part of every marriage for women to uphold. The modern day woman is the

Weiland 5

epitome of a balancing act. She is well educated, she is in the board room, she makes a decent salary, she is the soccer mom running the kids around, she has dinner waiting on the table when her husband gets home from work, and she is still the beautiful, perfectly put together wife. This woman is independent but also the one person who holds her family together. It would not be too far out of line to call this woman a super hero. She does it all. Only fittingly, this modern superwoman is in the background of every major event in the lives of those around her. She works a nine to five job she acquired after graduating with a degree from college. She is able to conquer anything thrown her way. She embodies so many different aspects of life all at the same time. She has superhuman powers and for that reason modern women are so much more than just women they are superwomen. The definition of a woman might consist of two words, but it does not encompass the complexity associated with such a human being. Women have come a long way from the days of boundaries extending only to washing dishes and child bearing. The modern woman can now morph from a traditional housewife to corporate partner. Although she has been allotted more independence, she also has taken on more responsibilities than ever before. The reasons leading up to this shift are her own aspirations, societal pressures, and the stereotypes that have accompanied her a long the way.

Works Cited Adams, B. (1993, October 29). The glass ceiling. CQ Researcher, 3, 937-960. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

Weiland 6

Stencel, S. (1977). Women in the work force. Editorial research reports 1977 (Vol. I). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1977021809 Stencel, S. (1980). Women in the executive suite. Editorial research reports 1980 (Vol. II). Washington, DC: CQ Press. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1980070409 "Women's Role in Today's Society" StudyMode.com. 03 2012. 03 2012 <http://

www.studymode.com/essays/Women-s-Role-In-Today-s-Society-954953.html>.