In Japan, most people still feel that a woman's place is in the home; and most women willingly accept their traditional role as wives, leaving the business of making a living to their husbands. For those who do want a career of their own, opportunities are limited, and working women usually have to settle for lower wages, fewer promotions, and less responsible positions.
In America, on the other hand, most women, including wives and mothers, work most of their lives. But until recently, few have had real careers. As in Japan most fields are dominated by men and opportunities for women have been restricted, salaries low, chances for advancement rare. American women work mainly because they have to; in these days of inflation and luxurious living, only one income per family is simply not enough to live on. So American women actually have two jobs: one nine-to-five position outside the home, and the other round-the-clock in-the-home job such as wife, housemaid, cook and nurse.
One of the main goals of the modern women's liberation movement, which started in the early 1960s, was to eliminate sex discrimination in the work force, and to open up opportunities for women that were previously reserved for men. And though there is still a long way to go, a lot of progress has been made. |
