week 4 business post

As Wood mentions throughout chapters 8, 9, and 10, women are at a disadvantage in many ways. Overall, I believe the privileges and ranking of women have improved a great deal in the last century, but, gender equality has continued to be threatened. After all the beliefs about women’s roles, I really feel that media should be responsible for the understanding that a lot of us have developed. Some sexist laws are slowly being eliminated, while the public perceptions of women’s roles continue to stand still. For example, a television drama might present women only as housewives and mothers and depict men doing exciting work outside the home, thereby implying that men have no involvement in their homes and families and that women have no interest in the outside world. That whole concept irks me because in today’s society it’s just about the complete opposite, you either have the father home, or the mother works, or both parents work and the child is in daycare.

I have spoke with a few females on this subject matter about their feelings and if they felt they lived in a sexist world. One female felt that sexism put her at a disadvantage of doing what she had wanted with her life, while another spent a lot of time worrying about her capability as a woman, because she was not as skilled in a few things.

All of the sexist things that occur…the unfair portions of duties at home that occur within families when the mother stays home, she is looked upon to be the homemaker, wife, mother…etc. not to mention the fact that it’s really multiple duties for those that choose to take on a job outside the home rather than be a homemaker. Outside of the home, sexist acts occur too…at work. From things with hiring and delegating jobs to underpaying females when they perform the same job that a man does, and overall how women are treated on a day to day basis. Wood mentions on page 245 the concept of “the glass ceiling”…an invisible barrier that limits the advancement of women and minorities, and she mentions “glass walls”…which refers to sex segregation on the job.

Something funny that happened to me at work while I was on the phone with a member and I thought it was very funny. I called a clients home to see if they had flood insurance for their refinance of their mortgage, and the husband answered, and his response was…”I don’t know anything about this, my wife is handling this process…” From the perception of a few men I know and from some individuals in society today, the male would be the ones doing that kind of business, not the wife, because they feel that it’s the man’s job to take care of it.

Even my own experiences, I feel that I have to prove myself because when I am dealing with most men on a day to day basis at work, they tend to classify me and many other women at work in a certain way, and once they see that I’m not as dumb as they originally thought, and they see that I am smart and have some type of brains, and that I can think for myself…after that is accomplished, their whole perception changes. One thing Wood mentions on page 254 is that if we recognize and challenge the inequities and stereotypes, we have the opportunity to contribute to the changes that improve the conditions in which we all live and work.