What you are up against
In some ways, women are their own worst enemies in the job market. In recent years, they have downgraded their role as home-maker and they have brought the same negative attitude about themselves with them to the business world. Through the years, this attitude of inferiority has been exploited by many men who work hard to keep women "in their place" because it can mean making handsome profits. Most women have not only gone along with the system, they have actually perpetuated it. Every time a woman is humiliated into taking a low paying, subservient job, she is telling other women that this situation is a fact of life, and to accept whatever you can get. On top of this, women, as workers today, are sometimes unskilled wives and mothers who have to work to help support their families. In short, they frequently take nearly any job at nearly any wage just to put food on the table. Men by contrast, can be much more choosey. These facts encourage many employers to believe that women can be paid less than men. It is unfair, of course, but it is a reality you will have to face.
Another factor that leads to underpaying women is the myth that they do not need as much money to live on because, if they are single, they do not have to support a family; and, if they are married it is assumed that their income is "extra" money for the family. So, once again they are paid less. Then there is the problem of playing the' 'office wife/' According to one study, many women like the secretary role because it is little more than a comfortable variation on being a traditional homemaker. Also, a lot of women are convinced that the rough and tumble, high pressure world of business involves too much responsibility and is no place for a woman. They tend to prefer less demanding, more emotionally satisfying roles. The male makes the decision as they support him from a comfortable distance, all the while encouraging the male boss to pamper them and protect them from the cold, harsh world of contemporary business. This worthless stereotype of the roles males and females should play is ridiculous but it is also a comfortable and simplistic way to work things out.
If you doubt the truth of what you have just read, study after study demonstrates that a vast majority of women prefer male bosses. The information is consistent; women tend to feel that men make "better bosses" because they are better business people and are fairer in making decisions and rendering judgments. It has also been established that most women believe men make better leaders, as well, because they are more logical, clear, and precise in guiding the destiny of the organization. By contrast, it is supposed by both males and females that women are too emotional to be trusted with major decisions. There is no reason to believe that any of this is true, but it is an easy way to deal with the complicated process of business in our constantly changing society.
Finally, it is still believed that most women don't really need jobs; that most will eventually get married, have children, and will be supported by a man. This too, is without much foundation, but it is the way most employers still operate. It follows that if women do not need to work, they will probably quit to have children, or move when the husband is transferred, or leave on a whim to do something else. So, many employers argue that women should not be given any real responsibility because they cannot be trusted to stick around.
You would think that the women's liberation movement would have resulted in an improved situation for women at work, but there is little evidence to support this position. In fact, many experts believe the movement created a backlash that has reinforced most of the stereotypes. So, what you are up against is a business world that firmly believes that you do not need much money that you want to and should play the subservient, safe, traditional roles, that you cannot be trusted to make tough decisions because you are too emotional, and that you will easily quit for any number of reasons.
