Women and Flexibility in the Workplace (week 2 assignment) Assignment

Women and Flexibility in the Workplace (week 2 ) - Assignment Example However, as time passes by, women’s role have changed and therefore, their needs have changed also. With the changing society, women need more flexibility. Women face structural and social issues that affects their flexibility in the workplace. However, there will come a time wherein the workplace will adapt to the changing workforce to be more productive. In the video, Open Mind: Women as Agents of Change Part I (2005), Kathleen Christensen raised the issue of the flexibility of women in the workplace. She argued that women need more flexibility in the workplace and the flexibility they needed is based on structural and social issue. Christensen believed that the private individual issues women are facing are not individual issues. She believes that these issues are structural problems. She believed that the structure of workplace is not suitable for the women especially to the mothers (Open Mind, 2005). For the past years, women are expected to take care of the children, sta y and organize home. However, as poverty spreads throughout the country, American women changed roles and entered the workplace which before, is exclusively for men. In 1889, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates opened an opportunity for middle class women to work, thus ignited the evolution of women in the workplace (Giraffe, 2011). This opportunity gave women the chance to go beyond what they are expected to do. This lifted the spirits of many women in the history and inspired them to pursue more participation in the society. Based on the history of America, women served as important instruments of change. Women fought for their rights that resulted to many changes in America. They participated in wars and leadership. Women proved that they are not only for housekeeping but they are also for the works that men usually do (Smith, 2009). The works women do in the society is indeed helpful for the progress of the country, however, their first role as mothers still outweighs their roles as wor kers in the society. The role of women as mothers and household keeper is in conflict with the demands of the present structure of workplace. The present workplace structure of the society is in conflict with the lifestyle of women. It affects their flexibility in work especially in time. The workplace of the society is designed for male workers. From the beginning, men are the ones working for the family. Most of the employers in workplace demands full time job (Giraffe, 2011). This means that the desired employees should have a lot of time and focus for the work. The jobs that requires full time employees are not suited for women workers who have family. After working, women are expected to organize home and look after their children. The required 40-hour a week for an employee is heavy for a woman who has children to take care of (Open Mind, 2005). This is the reason why some women are not flexible enough to do requirement of their jobs. Aside from the demanding schedule, the str ucture of workplace is designed for men’s activity. Before, farming is the dominating available work for people. During industrialization, different companies opened and created more jobs. Also the prominent available jobs during that time are on steel, coal, mining and cars industries (Giraffe, 2011). It can be analyzed that throughout the history, the workplace is designed for male workers. Although the war made an opportunity for women to participate in labor work because most men were in the battlefield, the work give to women are just temporary and inappropriate. Today, the available jobs can now be categorized as blue collar and white collar. However, most companies still view women as less competitive compared to men that’s why women cannot sometimes be in the job they wanted to be.