The Great War: Women in the Workforce

By Lauren Lytle

There is an established picture of the perfect corporate woman tailored, striking pantsuit, styled hair, and flawless makeup. These are the characteristics one thinks of when picturing a woman running a business- no signs of stress or disarray, composed. A defining trait of corporate women is how they put their business above everything else, prioritizing it over starting a family, getting married, or taking frequent vacations. However, a working woman can be something else entirely.

When we imagine the picture-perfect girlboss, our minds usually go straight to women in the corporate world, business owners and trailblazers. But what if I told you a woman can be a hustler without having to become the CEO of the next biggest tech start-up? You might be appalled to call a stripper a girlboss. “That’s not an actual job” or “why on Earth would someone do that” you might say. However, their hustle isn’t any less impressive just because their closet isn’t full of suits and briefcases.

And oftentimes, they are using the money they make from stripping to invest in their girlboss goals. Take Cardi B for example. Before she became a popular rapper, she started stripping as a young adult for over three years and is now one of the highest earning rap stars. Or what about Lady Gaga who stripped at night to afford school at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts? Today, we would consider these celebrities hustlers, but before they reached fame, they would not have been given the same respect.

Society’s perception of what a corporate woman should look like compared to the realistic picture of the typical, working woman is vastly different. Despite the stereotypes of women putting their careers above family, a working woman can also be someone who juggles marriage, children, and a career. If a woman is mother on top of a girlboss, society might perceive them as tired, disordered, and barely managing their work life amongst all her priorities outside of it. On the surface, this working woman may not appear to not stand out in a business, as they are seen as just another average worker, one who will not make any big impact in the workforce. Some working women may be perceived as cold yet driven while others are seen as affectionate yet messy. However, comparing working women creates a toxic environment where they are constantly being pitted against each other.

Since women have had to fight their way to the top, clawing and scratching for any opportunity they can grasp, society is always pinning women against each other in the work environment. When looking at the differences in working women, society has to realize that they pursue different careers for various reasons, based on their own beliefs and desires. We don’t consider this when we force women to compete and tear each other down selfishly to succeed and be on top. Instead, we should be applauding every woman who enters and succeeds in the workforce and representing all women as a whole who want to have the chance to be seen as strong and career oriented just like men. Rather than creating a cutthroat atmosphere for women to see other women fail in the workplace, we should be creating the possibility that two women might help each other to reach both of their goals. Men have a “boys club” so why can’t women have a “girls club?”

Along with the challenge of women feeling like they have overpower other women, there are other obstacles women face in the workplace. One of the most well known challenges is the fight for equal pay. More and more women have taken their place in business over the past century, so one would think equal pay wouldn’t be an issue anymore. But it is. Men are constantly arguing that the pay gap is this unrealistic thing women have created in their imaginations. However, men also love to ignore the statistics in their efforts to belittle women. This past year on average women earned 82% of what men earned. Employers view women differently because of the choices they tend to make between balancing work and family.

While a man can actually see an increase in their pay solely for being a working father.

There will also always be the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, and as much as we fight for change, men like Harvey Weinstein will always exist. However, with the recent rise of the #MeToo movement, more people have become aware and vocal of what they’ve experienced as working women. Once sexually harassed at work, the victim can be forced to change jobs, have limited job opportunities, face unemployment, or never advance higher than their level in the field out of fear of being sexually harassed more.

As you can see, there’s a lot that comes into play in a woman taking part in the workplace. What role are they going to play? Are they going to rise to a higher position or remain in one role for the entirety of their career? Are they going to juggle work while they start a family? Are they going to create change? Are they going to remain to succeed? Clearly this is not something a woman can ever prepare for. There are always textbook statistics and word of mouth reports, but it isn’t until a woman is faced with the challenges in the work field that can determine if it will make or break her.