The evolution of a working woman

The image of a working woman conjures up a picture of a confident, well dressed, perfume sprayed, and vanity bag swinging female. She is often viewed with a mixture of awe and contempt. Awe at her achievements and contempt because it is assumed that she is neglecting her family to boost her ego.

Let us examine the reasons that prompted woman to step out. In the earlier days the roles of men and women were predefined. The man was the bread winner and the woman kept house and cared for the children, elders and guests. The balance worked fine since the source of income was common. The joint family was the only way of life. Joint family incomes forced the families to stay together. The joint family system took care of elders, orphans and destitute women without burdening anybody.

As the joint incomes started dwindling the common source of income was not sufficient to look after the families. People started moving out of the secure environs of the joint family and started looking for other sources of income. That was when the nuclear families started. The nuclear family discovered that the new system gave them a new sense of freedom. A freedom which was to lead to a lot of social changes.

The nuclear family brought newer responsibilities along with the freedom. As the saying goes every advantage is accompanied with a disadvantage. The things that were taken for granted started to appear as chores to be completed. For example children never bothered the father in the joint family system. The nuclear family left no option for the children but to pester the father for their needs.

The joint family consisted of a set of male members, female members and children. The nuclear family translated to a man, woman and child. The joint income was sufficient to keep the entire family well fed and clothed. For a nuclear family the economics did not work out in the same way. The urban exposure brought with it the need to spend more under the guise of a raised standard of living.

The need for added income forced the woman of the house out to work and supplement the family income. With the security of the joint family missing, women turned to jobs for security. Eventualities and unforeseen circumstances forced a woman to look at a job as a security net.

With the woman working the balance of the male, female roles went awry. The woman accepted the role of a working parent but the major brunt of looking after the family still fell on her. The male counter part still has some inhibitions in sharing the responsibility of raising a family. With her responsibilities doubled the working woman has to juggle between a high pressure job and a family. She tries her level best to offer her best to both family and job, which leaves her with a guilt feeling of not doing proper justice to both family and job.

Working for economic reasons was the starting point of a working woman. Economic independence brought a sense of freedom and confidence to a woman. This set her to examine herself. She found that she had a potential to do greater things and compete with men and many times do better than a man. This prompted her to look at a job not as a means to earn a livelihood but also as an arena where she could show her excellence. With this the corporate woman was born.

The corporate woman had her goals fixed. She knew where she was heading. She opted out of raising a family, in most cases and concentrated on her career. She has to be doubly efficient compared to a man to climb the corporate ladder.

The life of a woman when examined in the three stages of evolution gives out some interesting points. In the joint family she did not have much say in family matters but the responsibilities also were less. She had a secure life. With a working woman for economic reasons, she had a greater say in family matters but her responsibilities also increased. The corporate woman has full freedom without the responsibilities of a family but definitely she misses a family. It is for the woman to decide the trade off between responsibities and freedom of expression.