Critically Discuss the View That Women's Careers Are Not The Result of Assignment

Critically Discuss the View That Women's Careers Are Not The Result of Free Choice - Assignment Example Women were seen making selective career decisions, acquiring professional education, enhancing their skills and eagerly working to support their families along with their husbands. Gradually with the passage of time, women were observed participating actively in different fields. According to United States Department of Labor, around 74 percent of women are working full time in different part of States. However, we cannot ignore that opting for a particular career is solely a woman’s decision but a woman’s career choice could be an outcome of the influence of different social factors. Childhood Socialization and Family influence: Gender roles and expectations of the society start establishing even before the child can actually understand his/her identity or learn about his/her personality. From early childhood, females are dressed in gender specific colors (pink) and they are given gender specific toys (dolls) to play with. This is a clear example of how our society beh aves and discriminate children on the basis of their gender from an early childhood stage. We know that social play an important role in developing a girl’s view of her identity and her future role in the society as a home maker. From an early childhood, girls are either intentionally or unintentionally forced by the families to be polite and soft, to have motherly nature and to spend more of their time in servicing other people. Perhaps, this is one of the main reasons that these girls are encouraged to pursue careers such as teaching, nurses, secretary or enter in other humanitarian services. However, the limit to this discrimination doesn’t end here. Even in schools, girls who opt for science and mathematics as their subjects of interests are often ridiculed by their peers. It is a common thought in our society that girls are weaker in science and mathematics and hence, these subjects are not â€Å"made† for them to study with keen interest (Mendoza, 2011). T o abide by all the rules and principles set by the society according to gender roles in sometimes harsh to follow. As a result, it has been observed that majority of the girls are found weaker in subjects like science and mathematics and when they enter high school, their command on these subjects is weaker than their male peers. Therefore, these girls find it hard to obtain a degree or pursue a career based on such subjects. On the other hand, recently different schools and teachers have stressed upon girls to break the traditional approach in making a career choice for themselves and by developing their interest in subjects like mathematics and science. Traditional Role Models: In the past, women were given limited career choices which resulted in limited approach in their future generations about the women with outstanding careers. It has been observed that women are more likely to get influenced by other successful women in traditional pink collar jobs. Such influence encourages these women to select and excel in the same career. Therefore, instead of creating a different career path for themselves; these women follow the footsteps of other successful women and adopt the traditional career choice. As a result, society has greatly diminished the role and contributions of those women who adopted their careers on the basis of science and mathematics. With the passage of time, girls started perceiving that they would be more successful in adopting traditional pink