Career Girls

March is Women’s history month! This month is a time to reflect and show appreciation for all of the great women who have made amazing contributions to the world in which we live. Within the month long celebration, we get an extra special day on March 8th which is International Women’s day; a day to celebrate women who have made significant achievements in mainly male dominated fields. 

 

Being a woman in today’s society is exciting. We have so many opportunities that our mothers and grandmothers did not have. They had to fight to get jobs if they had a desire to work outside the typical role of a housewife.  

 

In the years of WWII, while the men were off at war, women were given more factory jobs that had been mainly reserved for men. I know personally that for my family this was a big deal. My grandmother, who was one of 8 sisters and 1 brother, had the chance to work and gain experience outside of the traditional gender roles. My grandmother and her sisters worked on the airplanes used during the war and eventually she made enough money to purchase the family’s first telephone. Not only was this our family’s first telephone, but it was also the first phone in the entire town! I found that amazing for a couple of reasons. First of all, I always thought, why did they need a phone if they couldn’t call anyone else in town? Secondly, because it was my grandmother who had earned enough money for it, not her brother, the oldest male of the family.  We always considered her our personal Rosie the Riveter! 

 

Women who have paved the roads, like Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, and Amelia Earhart, deserve to be appreciated for the sacrifices they made.  We certainly have come a long way since they began the fight, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. Women still make only 78 cents to every dollar a man makes. We need to continue to work for equality, not only in the work place but also in our everyday lives.