Blog #39

In order to obtain a successful/work balance particularly for professional women, there is no question that we need a change in policies beginning with reshaping the structured organizations as the rules and standard norms have been set by men. Now with women being almost have of the entire workforce it is more imperative that policies reflect their needs and that they too be taken into consideration. When the ‘ideal worker norm’ was created, women stayed home and they cared for children but with in an increasing demand for a double income or simply the desire to be independent it has become challenging for women to remain in the workforce and make progress professionally and monetarily as the structure of the organization do not permit it. Repeatedly, we have seen in the course material, our interviews, the videos and in English’s book that women are forced to sacrifice prestige, income, reputation, credibility, and roles of leadership because they choose to also be mothers and raise children. In order to envision, English’s reimaging of the future, it will be necessary to accommodate women’s needs and those of their multiple roles. Wouldn’t you agree that it is reasonable? The most ideal setting would be an organization that offered child care onsite to allow women to visit with their children and nurse them if necessary. Having available childcare as a bonus will not only boost morale in the organization but it will take away from the stress of looking for an adequate provider as moms are more likely to be involved in making this arrangement. Another option that should be offered to women and caregivers is flexibility with the work schedule as it can be challenging to find a balance between both without it. Most importantly, we need to promote for more family friendly policies overall as that will create awareness and the due respect that the responsibilities of women deserve otherwise housework and child raising will continue to be regarded as women’s work that is expected but simply not applauded or commended enough. Only we women with children understand that it really takes much work, effort and competence to be able to manage our multiple roles and to do so effectively. We women are wonderful, there’s no doubt about it!

Blog #38

Justice O’Connor was the first woman to be sworn into the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981. It’s only been 29 years since she broke the gender barrier in such a prestigious organization. She graduated Magna Cum Lade from Stanford University with a degree in Economics and then went on to law school there as well. Interestingly, when I googled her biography and read it, it also included that during the time that she entered the workforce as an attorney, it was indeed difficult for women lawyers to find jobs. This exemplifies that regardless of her stellar academic resume, what held her back was her gender. In addition, her biography also describes her having children and afterwards ‘going back to work part-time’ thus making indicative that even Justice O’Connor was required to make some professional sacrifices to care for her children early in her career. I was impressed to have learned that only five years later, she was appointed to the State Senate but then again, her youngest child would have been kindergarten age and that’s when children spend less time in the home thus permitting a working mother to return to work full-time. Fortunately, for Justice O’Connor, President Reagan had promised to include women in positions of power and authority and thus granted her the appointment as a Justice during his presidency.
Justice O’Connor gained a reputation of being tough and conservative except when it came to women and children rights. She has been named one of the most influential women in America and as a result has had schools renamed after her including the Arizona State University College of Law and the local federal courthouse has also been named after her. She is known for being quoted as saying, “The power I exert on the court depend on the power of my arguments, not on my gender” and “The more education a woman has, the wider the gap between men’s and women’s earnings for the same work.” It is obviously clear that she was aware of the issues facing women in the profession that still need to be addressed.

Blog #37

The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession reportedly has found that women have made progress in terms of overcoming some discriminatory challenges in the work place however; some existing barriers still remain due to a lack of the promotion of work and home balance. Although the representation of women in law school, in private firm jobs and in major corporations is encouraging, women are still experiencing challenges taking their education to take on roles of leadership. And it’s not their lack of academic accomplishment that is holding them back, it is their gender and the roles associated with it. As a result, there is still an existing underrepresentation of women in major law firms, Fortune 500 companies, and the federal judiciary where pay tends to be higher than in the local government sector. I work at the federal court and only three women hold the prestigious position of a district judge (appointed by the president). More interestingly, a woman in the Arizona district is yet to be named chief judge. Another aspect of interest is that out of the three women I am only aware of one that has children thus reinforcing the notion that if women want to get ahead in the professional world, they need to overlook their desire to be mothers as that role can potentially be a burden to career advancement.
I found that the report also states that women lawyers report being viewed as overly aggressive or uncomfortably forthright and based on Holly English’s accounts, this is due in part because a woman attorney is stepping outside of her gender role (as perceived) and attempting to do a man’s job. For the past president of the California bar to have testified and said on the record as recent as 2003 that women were “too emotional or too aggressive” puts into perspective how gendered the employment structure really is. It also identifies how much work is yet to be done so that the male gaze can cease to focus on the qualities that actually make us special.

Blog #36

I am optimistic than women can break through the glass ceiling however I realize that it will take some time. I agree that women have made significant strides academically but in order to achieve equality in the workplace and be able to complete for higher wages there will need to be more women in positions of leadership. With that said, I think colleges need to improve their efforts in focusing on the challenges that women face and prepare female students to overcome those barriers. Although women continue to excel academically and prove that they are equally as competent as their male counterparts, unless this can translate into opportunities in the work place, we will not be able to get very far. In order to be able to enter the workplace with a stellar resume and climb up the corporate latter, it is necessary that the organizations have flexible and family friendly policies so that opportunities for women do not escape them otherwise it’ll continue to be a resemblance of the race between the turtle and the hare. While the turtle eventually reached the finish line, it required more time and effort to get there as the odds were against the turtle. Right now, policies in male dominated fields are set in a manner that they limit opportunity to women. One could argue that those rules are in fact discriminatory because it is clear that working women with familial obligations face greater challenges and if those responsibilities outside of the job are not considered to be legitimate then policies will never change. I think that we need to first recognize that housework, care giving responsibilities, raising children and everything else we women do are challenging tasks. Furthermore, if we work in addition to what we do at home, we should be commended but this rarely occurs. If we defined women’s work as what it is: hard work then I think policies in corporate America are more likely to change and become flexible in order to welcome more women into professions that men have long dominated.

Blog #35

It is impressive that the federal government is recognizing that it is in the best interest of both employers and employees to implement more family friendly and care giving policies as it is evident that individuals with additional responsibilities of a high degree outside of the workplace experience greater challenges and difficulty finding a balance between the two. I agree that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is recognizing that employers need to do more than the legal minimum to ensure that organizations are able to retain competent staff are juggling multiple responsibilities. For some of us that are fortunate enough to still have our parents, we are conscious that one day our parents will require our help as we have required theirs and I think it is our obligation as children to respond to them in same manner. And for the government to make such progress gives me hope that I will be able to care for my parents as they age without having to compromise my career. I would definitely be willing to make a professional sacrifice in order to care for my children and parents as that would be the right thing to do and I would not have it any other way.
I also appreciate that the EEOC recognizes that the care giving work is disproportionately carried out by women as a result it is clearly evident that women are more likely to be in need of greater support and flexibility in the workplace in terms of familial responsibilities. It is also equally important to acknowledge that women are disproportionately paid less than their male counterparts and that has proven to be a contributing factor to the risk of poverty particularly in today’s economy. Most of the job layoffs have occurred in the construction and financial fields were men are dominant thus leaving the woman of the house responsible as the primary wage earner. Because women make less than men in the same positions, they are put at risk for not being able to adequately provide for their family while their male counterpart is able to do so and this is absolutely unfair!

Blog #34

Clearly, professional women make sacrifices everyday for the sake of their family and children. It is clear that it is necessary for organizations to offer flexible work schedules and other alternatives to enable women to be both successful at home and in the workplace. More importantly however, it is necessary for women to be given the credibility that they deserve. It is interesting that Joan Williams, author of Unbending Gender describes her work experience with a gap as a result of having a child. She specialized in local government law until her child was born which is indicative that women are forced to make decisions that affect them both at home and at work with precision to ensure that they can balance the two. How many times have you heard of a man having changed positions, interests or work schedules as a result of having children? The only man that comes to my mind that had to think about a child first was the Hewlett Packard executive who essentially was forced to consider the child as a result of his wife’s death. Unfortunately, for most of us working women and mothers, we continue to be taken for granted and as explained by Williams it is because the work we do at home is not considered work and for homemakers in particular, they are viewed as simply housewives and we undermine their responsibilities. Williams further states that working mothers also face the challenge of being on the “mommy track” and she is referring to being on track to less pay, less benefits, compromised advancement and unfortunately on track to possibly leaving the workforce because of the increased difficulty to balance home and work life particularly when children are involved.
In terms of feminism, it has become difficult for women to call themselves feminists as the discourse associated with a feminist is almost always strict equality between men and women. However, as long as men do not have to literally bare children, I don’t think that it is possible to achieve equality. As a result, it is necessary to be more flexible towards working mothers as they have the responsibility to be more often times than not, the primary caregivers. I think more women would be inclined to form an alliance as feminists if the discourse was more family oriented because like I mentioned previously, total equality is not possible. This is not to say that women are less as a matter of fact, we often do more than men. We work equally as hard except we work a double shift, one in the office and another at home. The problem is that one is considered legitimate and the other is simply overlooked as “eh housework.”
It is devastating that the ‘ideal worker norm’ has essentially damaged the credibility of working women because realistically children have mishaps, they become ill, they have to visit the doctor or simply put-they are little human beings that are dependent on their adult care givers (moms). An ideal worker image is that of an employee that is willing to work 40 hours every week and to stay for overtime if necessary. Again, it is difficult for mothers to be considered ‘ideal workers’ because of their inability to commit to unfriendly and masculine policies. All of this combined, leaves us hardworking and deserving, admirable and commendable women a step behind men all the time. I have to admit however that I am quite fortunate in many ways as I have a very supportive spouse in which we share the work and we both respect that we have responsibility both at home and we help each other out as we view our marriage as teamwork.

Blog #33

The two women lawyers from New York set an excellent example that women can be successful and run and own their own practice so that they have the control to create and set their own schedule-something that is unlikely in the big law firms. Although they admit that they have taken a significant pay cut (it seems to be a trend for women when seeking flexibility) to them, the flexibility and independence is priceless. By having created their very own law firm run by women is a figurative form of breaking the glass ceiling because as they indicated, their colleagues thought they were crazy. I think that more women will be inclined and encouraged to own and operate their own firms and thus set a pathway for successful and flexible opportunities for other women. Since the 1980’s more and more women are entering the workplace and slowly closing in on the gender gap with 47% percent of the workforce consisting of women. However, sadly women still hold less positions of power and they make less than their male counterparts. The reasons for women staying behind are echoed throughout the readings and videos: women gravitate to employment that is less risky and more flexible and they make less because they take more time off than men particularly for child bearing. It seems to me that it is discriminatory as the work that women do at home which is often a second shift goes unpaid!
Furthermore, women like Hilary Clinton, Sara Palin and Michelle Obama have made it clear it is okay for women to step out of their expected gender role and be successful. As seen previously in the videos, the country has come to terms that it is possible that a woman president will be elected soon. Michelle Obama for example, has been repeatedly criticized for her style and her choice of wardrobe and what is important to highlight is that she is not backing down nor is she allowing expectations that were set for her decades if not centuries ago to run her life and by having her set her foot down, she is in essence giving the power back to women and for that she should be commended!