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Women and Childrearing

The role of women in society has expanded considerably over the past century. Less than a hundred years ago women in the United States, which purports to be the most democratic nation in the world, were not allowed to vote. Today, women in the developed world, including Australia, are better off than they have ever been with regards to their participation in the workforce and the valuation of their efforts. Nevertheless, significant ground remains to be made up. The importance of a woman's childrearing continues to be undervalued by society, and women with children face significant barriers to employment. This paper will examine the social and structural barriers that confront women with children in Australia. First, we will examine Australia's labor market and how it relates to women. Then, we will examine the social constructs that have created the disparity between men and women's participation in the labor market.

Historically, Australia featured a labor market which was segregated to a large degree by gender. It featured highly discriminatory policies such as the infamous "marriage bar," which banned married women from retaining their jobs in the public sector and in much of the private sector. From 1900 to 1970, the majority of women could only find employment in occupations that were considered women's workùwhere more than half of the workers were women. While the fields in which women are more likely to work have changed over the past century, high levels of segregation continue in many Australian fields. As recently as the 1980's, the Australian government reported that there was "no evidence to suggest that segregation is diminishing' and concluded that there were 'signs that some occupations are becoming increasingly segregated'" (Strachan, 6). Additionally, the government reported that "segmentation was occurring within occupations and the increasing 'feminisation' of occupations such as bookkeeper and...

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Women and Childrearing. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:21, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688526.html