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Do Women Really Work Harder Than Men? One of the standard feminist claims heard every March during International Womens Day and Womens History Month is that women do the work of the world. This argument was publicized by the United Nations during the 1970 s (Women constitute one half of the worlds population [and] do two-thirds of the worlds work) and reinforced in 1995 with the release of its Human Development Report and the presentation of the report at the UN International Womens Conference in Beijing. The reports claim that women do more work than men was reported widely and uncritically by the US media with headlines such as Its Official: Women Do Work Harder and A Womans Work is Never Done. Is it really so? Do women really work harder than men?
As mens issues author Warren Farrell explained in his 1999 book Women Cant Hear What Men Dont Say, the UN report upon which most claims of women work more are based was deeply flawed. In fact, UN official Terry McKinley admitted in February, 1996 that the UN misrepresented the study in several important ways. Glen Sacks, the author of numerous articles on mens and fathers issues argues that the information provided by the UN to the press only applied to countries where women were found to work more hours than men; the countries where men were found to work more hours than women were deliberately excluded (Carnell). Sacks also argues that feminists are wrong to blame men. In his words, the enemy of most of the women of the world is not the man who works hard to provide for his wife and children, but instead the grinding poverty that wreaks devastation on everybody: men, women and children. His argument, however, lacks persistency.
The issue is not in whether women blame men, it is rather to underline that women do work harder and that housework and other non-compensated labor may be added to the GDP and that various programs that cover workers should be amended to take into account womens undocumented work. As a 100 -question survey of 1, 400 family-business owners undertaken by Mass Mutual Financial Group and Babson College, found some very interesting results. The number of woman-owned family businesses has increased 37 percent over the last five years, now accounting for 15. 6 percent of all family-owned businesses in the U. S. The study also found that female-owned family businesses: 1) Do more with less. Although female-owned family businesses are smaller in size over $ 26 million in annual revenues compared to approximately $ 30 million for male-owned counterparts they generate sales with fewer median employees: 26 individuals compared to 50 at male-owned firms. 2) Place greater proportionate emphasis on social responsibility, directing their philanthropic focus toward educational and community organizations. 3) Are more than six times as likely to have a woman chief executive. 4) Are twice as likely to employ women family members full-time and are three times as likely to employ more than one female family member full-time. 5) Tend to carry less or no debt than male-owned firms.
In 1998 almost 64 million women, aged 16 and over, were employed, representing 46 percent of the total workforce. Three-fifths (60 percent) of all women over 16 years of age were employed; 66 percent of all black women and 68 percent of all Hispanic women were in the labor force. Some 62 percent of the working women were married with husbands present, and 71 percent of these women had children under 18 years of age. Working mothers with children under 6 years old more than tripled from 1960 to 1998. American women today are holding paid jobs of greater diversity than ever before.
In the last two decades many more women have entered the new high-technology industries; by 1998, for example, 29 percent of all computer programmers were women. Women are also making slow but steady progress in entering nontraditional fields such as engineering and construction work, professions such as medicine and law, and elected and appointed political positions. All of the above can serve the evidence that women do really work harder. Those women who get their education and become professionals do not limit themselves with that. They also have children, carry most of the household tasks and other family-related responsibilities, such as taking children to the doctors. It would not be fare to say that all women work harder than all men.
However, as the UN researches have shown, most women around the world do really work harder. Works cited: Carnell, Brian. Glenn Sacks on the Women Work Harder Claims. April 29, 2003
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Research essay sample on Do Women Really Work Harder Than Men
