Working Woman

Some say sweetness is to a woman what sugar is to fruit. Her business is to be

happy, and then she must be a ray of sunlight in the house to make others happy. This idea may sound Victorian and too old-fashioned in today's society, but it still exists. There is a major gender division concerning women in the workplace because many women are preferring the idea of becoming full-time housewives (Anonymous 1). Women need to be more than simply housewives and not be stuck to the praise of the "little homemaker." A women's culture should be constructed with its own spirit shouting out its worth in every movement. Women have the intelligence and competence to reach full realization which is sometimes truncated by the influence of the social prescription (Piel 23). In actuality, a job gives a women judgment on how to spend her free time, and it gives her an affiliation of her own. Working women not only bring a new foundation for new ways of working, but it has been found that they raise more mature and independent children and have more successful families. Therefore to be truly fulfilled, women should work in something other than housework.

A job gives a woman a reason for saying no to the one million tasks she does not want to do but usually is expected to do. When you do not have job, it is assumed you have time to do volunteer work at the children's school or chauffer the Boy Scout troop on a field trip or clean out the church basement in preparation for the spring fair (Ray 1). But if you work outside the home, they leave you alone if you remind them you're just not available during the day and too devoted to your family to rob them of your presence in the evening or on weekends. Staying at home and being your own boss sounds good, but it is also true that you are forever feeling guilty if you are not doing something constructive. It becomes necessary to prove you are not a couch potato, so you either assume all sorts of social and community obligations to show you are as busy as everyone else, or start taking longer to accomplish what used to take a small portion of you time(Barron 176). Commitment to a job does not have to be explained to anyone, but being home all day forces most women to be on the defensive about how they spend their time. This is because what they do does not show, and what they do not do does. Having the refrigerator full of food, a tidy room, and clean clothes is not noticed, but if you are still in your pajamas by noon it is easily noticed (Barron 177). Homemakers today work about as long as homemakers did in the 19th century (Mott 58). Today, working couples are learning to divide that labor because women are finding need to work outside their home.

A woman needs a place besides home where she belongs and where she has contact with people. A job gives structure to a woman's life, gets her out of the house regularly. Most people want a time when they will have a flexible schedule and can sign up for the art class or Spanish lessons that they always wanted to take, but few people actually do it without an agenda (Whitely 24). The stay-at-home wife and mother usually become more tired, because a nonstructural life encourages a never-ending work. A woman needs to grow, explore, learn and believe in herself, and this is all achieved in an environment where the person can communicate with other people. Flexible working situations, mentoring programs, and technology are environments available today that support a balance between work and personal life. (Shusman 161) When a person is able to explore life outside the house by working and making time to learn, he becomes spiritually strong, and this is something a women needs (Kovalevsky 53). A woman needs to be tough to handle family life and heavy decision making. As women become clearer and develop a sense of self, they become more capable of meaningful relationship with others. Work becomes more than something one does to earn money; it is what we need to do with our life. It means making a contribution which complements the other aspects of our life. "It is not a profit-and power-oriented; instead, it takes its meaning from creativity, bonding, humaneness, and service." (Wilson 117) A woman who reaches this stage of growth also develops a relationship with the universe. She begins to have and understanding of how it all fits together and a feeling that life has true meaning (Blodgett 15). Not only does a woman benefit, but through work women manifest many of their strengths which are very beneficial to the workplace.

Women entering the workforce have affected one of the most enormous organizational changes ever experienced, due to their unique skills in leadership and communication. An increased level of connection and support separates women's working methods. Those differences are the base for new ways of working and thinking about how work gets done within an organization. There is no longer one right or prearranged way to think about leadership or communication. Instead, the door has been jolted wide open for other, less traditional approaches. With these nontraditional alternatives comes opportunity and the promise of possibility. In order to make the most of this opportunity, people need a better understanding of the elements of an organization, including leadership, company culture, and communication. While this awareness is important for both men and women, we believe it is of critical importance to women, who are now able to assume leadership roles in organizations that were previously dominated by men. Women are succeeding as leaders, not by learning male styles of leadership, but through their own skills, attitudes, and experiences as women. There are many stereotypes of women as leaders. These stereotypes are based on assumptions about the female personality and have little to do with material style. It is believed, however, that a woman's leadership style derives from who she is as an individual, not from her gender. Not all women in leadership positions are nurturing and not all men in leadership positions are authoritarian. Many female tendencies, however, are now thought to be among the critical traits of great leaders. Women are good at listening, nurturing, caring, sharing, and they have strong interpersonal development skills. (Shusman 160) All of these traits are what makes them good mothers, but there are many things to worry about when it comes to raising their children.

One of the mayor concerns in a working woman's life is the life of her children. Much has been said about the importance to children of the always available mother, but there are a lot of benefits to the children of a mother who works.