The researcher's proposed topic is the mobility of women into middle management. With the advent of women into management posi-tions in the early 1970s, it is important to study the progress that women have made in the corporate structure. While many com-panies give lip service to the notion that women have an equal chance to succeed in middle management, the success or failure of equal opportunity in the corporation can be measured statistically with respect to geographical regions, minority advancement, and management categories. This research will attempt to give an over-all viewpoint of the status of women, including minority women in management, taking into consideration the studies that have been made and the problems women in business need to resolve.
The researcher's Project Demonstrating Excellence will be in the form of a dissertation. It is a case descriptive study of the progress of women into middle management positions.
History Prevalence and Characteristics
Many people assume that the history of women in the work force is a recent one. The fact is the vast majority of women have always worked. What has changed throughout history has been the location and the conditions of their labor. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, both men and women performed most jobs, with little distinction between men's and women's work (Fernandez, p. 67). No labor was too strenuous to exclude women and even children formed part of the family economic unit. Everyone was needed in the family economic unit if they were to survive. The Industrial Revolution marked the end of the cottage industries that had been a preferred work location for women, who were also expected to bear and raise children while producing marketable products (Almquist, p. 154). They now had to work in sweatshops for low pay and long hours. With the Industrial Revolution came the rise of the middle class, where some men were able to provide for their families s...