Over the last three decades women have been seeking economic equality in the work place. While some would argue that tremendous gains have taken place for women in general, the results of this quest are mixed for not only is it questionable whether any economic strides have taken place, but the corresponding effects socially have been tremendous. In fact, society as a whole is just now coming to grips with the impacts. The purpose of this paper will be to discuss the social costs of women seeking and attaining economic equality and what if anything can be done to remedy them.
The early 1960s saw the beginnings of a revolution that had been in the works for a long time, Through a number of factors all coming together within a span of a few years women finally saw the opportunity to become equal with men in the labor market while envisioning that the sexes would become equal partners on the homefront with childcare and housework.
During this period, birth control methods, such as the IUD and the Pill, were perfected and distributed to an eager market, one that for the first time could have control over pregnancy. In addition, the Civil Rights Act of 1963 was passed by Congress outlawing discrimination in employment and was quickly followed by the Equal Pay laws, all of which encouraged employers to hire women (Fuchs, 1988, p. 27). Lastly, the economy began to dictate the need for women workers both through the expansion of the service industry and because the competition for jobs increased setting the stage for what is known today as the "two-income" household.
In 1960 the higher-level professional and managerial jobs were held by men; only six percent of the new lawyers, physicians, and doctoral degree recipients were women (Fuchs, 1988, p. 14). Women were mainly homemakers with the small number of full-time female workers being comparatively well-educated and/or trained and serving in the traditional roles of teacher...