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