A Woman's Nation?

Women have finally made it to occupying half of workers in the U.S. And mothers have become primary bread winners. But this sole number doesn't make the suffrage of so many women in the past fifty years worth it. Equality has not yet been reached. And that was the basis of women's rights in the first place.
Women are as diverse as men, they are occupying jobs that used to be male dominated, which the article "A Woman's Nation Changes Everthing" by Maria Shriver gets excited about. But in reality every job was male dominated, so women occupying them doesn't really say a lot. Yes women are in the work force but some will argue that they worked twice as hard to get to where they are versus a man in the same position.
A statistic used in the article says that a woman who goes to the same kind of school, has the same grades, same major, same job, same personal characteristics of her male collegue earns 5% less the first year out of school. Hard to believe? Well it goes on to say that the gender gap in salaries only gets bigger over time. Because pay raises are often a percent of what the person already makes, giving women the short end of the stick.
The article says that we will have a women's nation when there is equal leadership positions in society, men take equal time away from paid work to take care of family responsibilities and laws and public policies make it possible for men and women to move between home and work easily. The common theme in that statement is equality. Women's jobs are undervalued in society, job candidates as mothers aren't getting the job versus non mothers, and pay gaps are dependent on gender. America says that women have come so far from being stereotyped stay at home moms, but with this study it doesn't seem like women have gained much except for stress.
Immigrant workers are doing jobs in our homes and taking care of our families but they have been overlooked and stereotyped as well. So not only do women deal with their race and ethnicity stereotypes but they have their "role" as women to handle as well.
Whether the effect is known or not, the media has played a critical role in the dissmissive coverage of powerful women. They concentrate on women "opting out" of the work force to stay at home with the kids instead of showing the real life of many women bread winners. Women's financial and professional status is overrepresented without showing the daily struggle of everyday women who juggle family, work and trying to pay the bills. TV shows women in high authority positions with great power, making them popular to watch but it does not show the real side of women in the workforce. The media finds it amusing to resurect sexist stereotypes because they think everyone believes it's a joke, showing that women have come further than those molds. But with so many young people watching this media it isn't as clear to them those fine lines between the lies and the truth.
I don't think women have reverted back to the "June Cleaver" mold, but I do believe that there is a choice that not only women but men have to make as a family. If the family can afford to not have both parents in the work force it is an easy decision, but for those who have to have both parents working it's nearly impossible. And it isn't always the mother who stays at home, sometimes the father stays.
The idea of a women's nation is just that, an idea. Women have come a long way from fifty years ago, but this women's nation just doesn't exist yet. I do however believe that it could happen, look at all that women have done to get to this point. The movement would redifine masculinity and femininity, changing gender roles from what they once were. Letting men show a sensitive and scared side they have been conditioned not to. And letting women take over positions of authority and power without the judgement of gender getting in the way. Women have made their presence, intellegence, and determination known in society and we are well on our way to equality but this article shows that we haven't quite made it yet.
Oprah believes power is a person with grace and confidence to be themselves and make things happen. And sometimes you can't find a definition that suits you when it comes to power, but this is a good way to put it. She stresses that every challenge makes you stronger, and it does. She says power isn't landing the corner office but something inside, that statement should make people step back and look at what they percieve has power. Her mentor Sojourner Truth said women have what it takes to turn the world right side up again. And women have proved her right by the statistics in this article. Women have shown their power to rise to what they once only hoped.