Introduction
During the early days, women were not entitled to the same rights and privileges as their male. The females were not allowed to vote. They were required to be submissive and fully surrender the control of their property to their husband once they get married. Equally, their education and career opportunities were limited as it was believed that their place is at home raising children and attending to the domestic chores. The first attempt to acquire gender equality occurred in the 1800s. At the beginning of this century, coeducational studies at the tertiary level were offered for the very first time. Several laws were passed in different countries, which allowed women to retain property after their husbands died or after the marriage is over. A lot of changes were evident, and women empowerment was beginning to yield results. However, there have been cases of gender inequality in the workplace where women are offered low pay, as demonstrated in this essay.
Emerge of Women Empowerment Movements
After the women's empowerment was started in this century, a lot of movements were initiated. It was also in this era that the first women rights convention was held. Most of the people who supported women's rights joined the abolitionist movement that extended even during the civil war. Some of the people who were part of the movements became public orators who were termed as an uncommon occupation for women (Rosette et al., 2016). The thirst for equality was extended all through the civil war. In 1869, some countries passed a law where women were allowed to vote and also serve as juries. Most of the western nations adapted to this law, which later spread to other countries in other continents. The Wyoming territory in the United States was the first to pass this law.
Advocates who were fighting for the women's rights were excited by the fifteenth amendment that was ratified in 1870. In the bill, there was a law that was passed and declared that it is illegal to deny citizens the right to vote based on race. The women rights advocates did not give up and continued to push the amendment that was then ratified in 1878 the constitutional amendment gave women the right to vote. However, the amendment was not as successful as it failed. However, the movement continued to be ratified each year for 40 years continuously. Susan B. Antony and Lucy Stone led the movement. Susan B was the first woman to be arrested for illegally participating in presidential elections. Lucy Stone was also the first woman to be allowed to retain her maiden name after her marriage was over. Women were later given the right to vote in the nineteenth amendment.
After women were given the right to vote, all seemed to go on well, and the movements stopped their actions. They became impetus as they felt that women were now powerful, and gender equality was being exercised. However, in the 1960s, the momentum of the movement was regained. Women were now advocating to be given a chance to enter the workforce. The majority of the women were no longer interested in their traditional role of being housewives. There was also an increase in demand for equal rights and opportunities (Abrams, 2017). As a way of responding to the women's requests, an equal pay act was passed in 1963. The law prohibited employers from discriminating against their employees because of their sex or race. The next year, 1964, congress enacted civil rights acts that banned all the discrimination in the workplace based on gender. Genders, males, and females were offered protection against gender inequality through the equal pay act that was enacted.
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Lin Farley wrote the book Sexual Shakedown where she stated that unless people understood the systematic role that causes both the verbal and physical sexual assault in the workforce, it would remain difficult to get the solution of stopping the problems that face women in the workplace. Sexual harassment is one of the major challenges facing women in the workforce. Most women in the labor force have called attention so that sexual harassment cases can be addressed. Therefore it is worth recalling the history of sexual harassment in the labor force.
Male Domain
The workplace has always been taken as a male domain. It is considered a place where men demonstrate their masculinity as they demonstrate their ability and skills to provide for the families. To fully show their turf and reduce the competition, the males in the labor force have adopted different strategies that are used to exclude women in the workforce. Industrialization caused the white workers to marginalize the outsiders, where they forced the immigrants, the blacks, and women to be slaves. They were denied training and were offered the poorest and stressful jobs. Even after the slavery era came to an end, women have continued to be excluded.
The gendered understandings that were widely shared strengthened the mechanisms that were being enacted to exclude women. Religion, obedience, and subordination language that are instilled in children at a young age cause normative behavior. Children grow to have the idea that the workforce needs to be regulated to reduce the number of women in the workforce despite them having to earn as some of them are single mothers. After the women were given equal rights, men who included supervisors and employers enacted a sexual innuendo, they started demanding sexual quid pro quos before offering them a position in the organization (Kim et al, 2018). They also intimidated women with sexual comments on the looks, dress, and body. In the early 19th century, there was a complaint from men who complained that those women who earn more than them are a millstone in their necks. The women in the workforce felt intimidated as they feared as they found it important to stop earning wages since they were at risk of losing the virtue to the male predators.
As a result of these complaints from the males in the labor force, women found out their wages were reduced by a certain amount, which was just enough for survival (Ud Din et al, 2018). However, this was for the women who earned a reasonable amount of wage since the most miserable women's situation was worse. As a result of having the urge to fully support their families, most women in the workplace were forced to offer sexual favors to their bosses and supervisors to keep their jobs or even have they secured during their leave.
The men in the labor force benefitted from these arrangements since the employers used to inhibit solidarity. The female labor force was threatened as the employers kept the wages down and gave the men the best working conditions. The threat caused the males in the workforce to stop apprenticing and training women. It was evident that lack of training made the employers have the excuse of not raising wages for the women (Franzway, 2017).
The Gradual Change
Over a long period, gendered entitlements that were strengthened by sexual harassment were able to convince women to stay out of their careers. Often, sexual harassment is only hurled to women as the labor force is said to be a male domain. Most women were barely surviving, as their aspirations were limited. Most of the female workers treated the workplace as a temporary station as it was a matter of time before they would be forced to pack and leave. However, some women still had hope that everything will change, and they will be treated equally as men. They, therefore, decided to remain the workforce despite the harsh conditions (Giuliano, 2017). All these happened in the early 19th century before civil rights acts were passed in 1964. It was the first act to be passed that stated it was illegal to discriminate aga a person ion the basis of sex or race. In the beginning, the public was unable to adapt to the changes as they were used to a specific treatment for women. However, the act did not stop men from benefitting, as they were more trained than women.
As the act continued to take place, court cases related to the notion of labor force continued to increase (Shu et al, 2018). In 1972, Diane Williams went to court and claimed to get her job back as she had been fired for refusing to sleep with her boss. She was an African American employee who worked in the US justice department. To the surprise of the public, she won the precedent. It was at this point that more women reported several cases where most of them won. By the 1980s, the court had shown to the public that discrimination based on sex was legally prohibited. As the women continued to successfully sue their supervisors and other male counterparts in the workforce who demanded sexual favors, the decision by the court did not change the American culture (Terry, 2016).
Sexual coercion has continued to remain endemic. The gendered relationships are deeply rooted and strengthened by the assumptions that people have on female nature. Most people have the assumption that men are the breadwinners, while women are supposed to commit their lives at home (Milkman, 2016). When Anita hill detailed the history of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas, she was harassed as the panel of white senators felt that she was denouncing the crude behavior of the person who is expecting to be elected as the Supreme Court justice.
The society joined hands with married women and young mothers to remove the blinders. The movement called for attention and managed to convince a considerable number of women to start searching for jobs. There was a rapid drop off in the manufacturing jobs and an increase in the health care sector that offered incentives for women to start looking for jobs. Most men believed that they could work better in manufacturing jobs. As a decrease in male employment continued, employment for women increased. By the 1990s, most women were in the workforce. Cases of sexual harassment and gender inequality had reduced. However, in 2006, the Me Too movement was started, which made women understand that they are still prone to sexual harassment. The movement showed that most women decided to keep quiet for them to retain their jobs.
Me Too movement
The Me Too movement is a movement that was started to help women in fighting against sexual harassment in the year 2006. The founder, Tarana Burke, tweeted that if you are a woman or rather a female and has undergone any form of sexual harassment, she retweets back with the hashtag me too. Within the next two hours, over 500 women had tweeted (Quffa, 2016). The tweets showed that most women are still undergoing sexual harassment in the workplace. One woman who had tweeted went ahead and said that the reason why she decided to keep quiet was the hostility that a colleague who had reported a case of sexual harassment faced. Since it is illegal to condone sexual harassment in the workplace, most people who are charged guilty lose their jobs. However, the victim of sexual harassment is not treated well by the remaining colleagues as they face the hostility that forces them to quit their jobs.
Workplace divisions are exposed through the movements, and collective action is done (Dashper, 2019). Also, the Me Too movement has continued to encourage poorly paid workers like waitresses, hotel cleaners, and health care aides to speak out, and their voices will be heard. The chorus of protests has fueled and encouraged public protests against the bridges of racial and generational issues that lead to gender division. In a way, the Me Too movement is the best as it allows women to air their views on sexual harassment. They are also educated on the different types of sexual harassment.
