| There are few, if any, barriers that prevent | | | | women who want to work and be a care giver |
| men from obtaining training for a job, | | | | too. This career path doesn't lead to being |
| entering the job market or changing careers | | | | the head of the department or president of |
| at some point in their lives. This is not the | | | | the company. It is a sidetrack to a job that |
| case for women. They have traditionally been | | | | dead ends. Why? It is because men in most |
| homemakers and care givers. While single | | | | fields see themselves as dedicated to their |
| women are free to explore training and job | | | | jobs. Women who want to have families are not |
| opportunities, they are expected to give it | | | | viewed the same way. Men feel that they have |
| all up once they are married or begin a | | | | lost interest in their jobs and are no longer |
| family. | | | | dependable. When a crisis arises at home, |
| | | | women will leave their jobs and tend to their |
| It is not that women aren't competent. During | | | | children. This is not the way, men think, to |
| both world wars, women left the home and went | | | | act. The paying job is all important and |
| to work so that the men could join the armed | | | | cannot be abandoned at any time. |
| services and fight the enemy. Thousands of | | | | |
| women worked in the munitions, aircraft, | | | | For the woman returning to work after being a |
| automobile, steel and other industries. When | | | | mother for many years, the path is hard. |
| the men came back home, women were expected | | | | Unless there is need for a second income, men |
| to give up their jobs and return to being | | | | do not understand why their wife wants to |
| home makers and mothers. Women have served in | | | | work. There is no emotional support for them |
| some occupations and no one has ever | | | | if they don't find work in their field |
| protested their work as salesgirls, typists, | | | | because men feel it's not something they need |
| telephone operators or nurses. | | | | to do. Because they have not kept up with |
| | | | advances in their field, women may not hired |
| Today, women work in nearly every occupation, | | | | at all. If they are hired, they may shunted |
| including astronauts, senators, physicians, | | | | into a path within the industry that has no |
| surgeons, lawyers and other positions of | | | | future. |
| prestige and importance. Ask any woman if it | | | | |
| was difficult to get where she is today and | | | | Women need to find support groups, in person |
| she will tell you that she faced many | | | | or online, that can help them navigate the |
| obstacles that men do not face. Women often | | | | path to getting training, getting the job and |
| face discrimination before they get to their | | | | rising as far as they can within their field. |
| chosen occupation. In many colleges and | | | | The support groups can serve as mentors, |
| universities, there is a lack of role models | | | | providing role models and important advice on |
| for young women. There is not a ready supply | | | | how to succeed. Women in positions of power |
| of women professors to advise female students | | | | and authority need to network with their |
| about the benefits of networking and | | | | younger colleagues and provide the assistance |
| discovering, like men do, who can help them | | | | that they wanted when they were first |
| get their careers started. | | | | starting out. With today's computer |
| | | | technology, more and more people work at |
| Women will explain that it is difficult to | | | | home. Women should learn how to use this |
| juggle being a career woman and a mother. In | | | | technology to overcome the "mommy track. |
| many careers, there is a "mommy track" for | | | | |