Women’s Empowerment at Work and Home
August 17, 2021
This post was written by Ranyelle Andrade. Ranyelle is an intern with Alhambra US Chamber.
Women have been steadily expanding their space in the labor market in recent years, building their opportunities for growth in professional development. However, there is still a lot to be done to create equality between men and women in the corporate sphere--we need to do a better job of treating women fairly and preventing discrimination at work, but also need to reduce the unfair burden placed on them at home. We need to promote gender equality at work through efforts made by international and domestic activism, as well as get men to perform more household labor to create a world where women feel welcome to work and lead.
Women really started entering the labor market during the first half of the 20th century, when men had to go to war, leaving women to take over family businesses and men's jobs. However, even though more women were entering the workforce, they still faced discrimination and often had to do the same work as men for less pay. They had little legal recourse to protect them against these ills. Another significant obstacle faced by women trying to enter the labor market was the rejection of women with family responsibilities from job and leadership positions. Unfortunately, these issues still affect women, and discrimination on grounds of pregnancy and maternity hurts women’s employment and wage prospects.
On top of discrimination in the labor market, women were also expected to handle household responsibilities, like taking care of children and other family members. According to the Harvard Business Review, “Despite the fact that [in the US] women outnumber men in the paid workforce, women still do more of the domestic work and childcare — almost twice as much as their male partners”. Women are essentially undergoing a ‘double journey’. They are fighting for the chance to earn money in the workplace and fighting to get men to do more of the unpaid labor necessary to run a household. While men are starting to do more child-rearing and housework, women are still expected to take on most of it.
This double journey leaves women with feelings of stress, anxiety, helplessness, impotency, insomnia, and insecurity. Even under this pressure, women still exhibit a desire to attain professional fulfillment, and sometimes enter the workforce in order to support the families they are taking care of. They have continued to persevere and conquer their own space in the labor market, pushing to achieve equality before the opposite sex in organizations and in society.
Recent research has shown the economic importance of women participating more in the workforce while simultaneously supporting their families. The researchers found that empowering women increases productivity, income equality, and overall GDP, among other things. Fortunately, the number of women in leadership positions in companies and government is growing worldwide. Trends vary across countries and regions, but globally, women’s empowerment is trending upwards.
However, women’s economic and political empowerment still has a long way to go. Economic and political participation by women, as a percent of men’s participation, grew from 54 to 60% and 14 to 21% respectively between 2006 and 2014. Although the numbers are encouraging, they also show the progress that still has to be made to empower women worldwide.
For these reasons, it is extremely important to fight for equality between men and women in the marketplace, in pursuit of the goal proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone is equal before the law, without distinction of race, color, sex, or any form of discrimination." Aware of the role of business in women’s empowerment, UN Women and the UN Global Compact created the Women's Empowerment Principles. The Principles are a set of considerations that help the business community to incorporate values and practices aimed at gender equity and women's empowerment:
Establish gender-sensitive corporate leadership at the highest level.
Treat all women and men fairly at work, respecting and supporting human rights and non-discrimination.
Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men working in the company.
Promote education, training and professional development for women.
Support women's entrepreneurship and promote women's empowerment policies through supply chains and marketing.
Promote gender equality through community-oriented initiatives and social activism.
Measure, document and publish the company's progress in promoting gender equality.
In addition to removing barriers to women at work, it is necessary to encourage greater sharing of domestic responsibilities--they should be shared with men, rather than falling exclusively or even primarily to women. Sharing domestic responsibilities will enable women to pursue their own dreams, instead of having to take care of household responsibilities on their own. Barriers have been reduced for women at work, but they continue to be burdened with a disproportionate share of housework. No matter how few barriers women face at work itself, if men are not expected to contribute at home women will face the invisible barrier of domestic responsibilities.
Women have worked across the world to carve a way into professional life. But they still face numerous obstacles, especially discrimination by governments and businesses, and the expectation that they are responsible for taking care of the home. Increasing their opportunities worldwide will depend on alleviating both these obstacles, and will require the concerted effort of men, women, and organizations like the United Nations. The process of women’s empowerment has been ongoing and will continue to be in the future, but although there is a long way to go, the progress is going to be worth it.
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