Role of Women

          

           I start off this post with this picture because it accurately depicts my relationship with my mother. On a personal level, one of the reasons I picked the topic of generational differences is to help solve personal, professional conflicts in my life that arise from these generation gaps. Thus, hopefully after reading this, you too will begin to understand the root and values behind the different generations.

            As mentioned in the introductory post, this blog will explore the diversity within the generational differences. The elements are broken down into status, race, and gender. Today, I will focus on gender and specifically center on the topic of generational differences pertaining to women. To give a brief background, I actually was interested in this topic, because of week 3’s Stoller readings. In chapter 17, Aliene Walser gives a great narrative of her life as a minority woman. The informal language and her use of descriptive imageries allow the readers to experience her life through her perspective. What really caught my attention was her anecdote about her experience raising her girls. She had said that she wanted to raise her girls differently than how she was raised. One special quote that stuck out to me was when she told her girls, “Yes, but I don’t want you to do what I done.  Got married when I was just a child. You need to get a little more out of life than just getting married, having children, and working in that mill.” (Stoller, 2000, p144). To me this one quote sprung about a number of other questions and inquires. It allowed me to understand how different generations’ values/beliefs actually affect the women’s role in society.

            Generational differences for women on the surface level seem pretty straightforward. Women from older generations will have more traditional views on life because they were taught and experienced through the proper female role of marriage and childbearing. Each generation offers its own unique sets of influencers and events that shape that generation’s attitudes and values. (Sigel & Reynolds, 1980, p. 635) As a business major and also a woman, this topic interested me, because I wanted to see the role of generational characteristics on women at work. In order to avoid potential future conflicts and concerns in the workplace, I wanted to explore and understand why each generation of women act the way they do.

            Upon further research, I was able to find the different sets of characteristics that define each generation of women. The traditionalist generation (1925-1943) is loyal, patriotic, and financially conservative, they saw family first and placed strict boundaries between gender and work. Women were mostly limited to household jobs or administrative tasks. However, during World War II, they were able to occupy temporary positions previously held by men. The baby boomers generation (1944-1962) changes to one of superwomen attitude. This is when we start to see women taking on family responsibilities as well as maintaining their careers. Generation X (1963-1981)’s role in the workforce starts to increase. Because of the financial instabilities, there were increasing financial pressures for dual income families. Lastly, the Millennials (born 1982-2003), which is the one I’m part of, is a complete integration of work and life through technology. It is becoming more common for women to enter marriages and start families at a later age. (“Generational Differences”, 2006)

            Researching this topic really opened my perspective to understanding the reasoning behind the thinking of older generations. This really put me into perspective why my mother acts the way she does and why she wants and expects so much from me in the future.  I hoped you enjoyed reading, and I look forward to writing future entries dealing other diversity elements of generational differences. 

1. Stoller, E. P., & Gibson, R. C. (2000). World of difference inequality in the aging experience. (3 ed., p. 144). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

2. Siegel, R. S., & Reynolds, J. V. (1980). Generational differences and the women's movement. Political Science Quarterly, 94, 635-648. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2149630

3. Generational differences among working women. (2006). Retrieved from http://interchange-dev.squarespace.com/storage/documents/Generational Differences Among Working Women.pdf

An Introduction...

            So what is going on in this comic? Two words: generational differences. What is generational differences and why is it important to me and you?! Well, just so you know this is the first time that American society has four distinct generations. This is called the “power of four”. To retract, generations are defined as a group that shares the same birth years, age, location, and significant life events. Each generation has its own set of related values, influencers, attributes, work ethics, etc. These four generations are classified as the traditional generation containing individuals born before 1945 and some sources have placed the earliest birth year to 1922. This generation is mostly influenced by the great depression and World War II. They are often classified as conservative, disciplined, and a sense of obligation (Niemic, 2002). The Baby Boom generation is classified as people born between 1943-1965. With the greatest babies born during a period, this generation has left a large impact. Boomers are normally raised in an era of prosperity and optimism. They are inspired and believed to have the ability to change the world. Generation X are people born between 1968 and 1979. As children of the older boomers, these people often grew up in an era of financial and societal insecurity. The last generation is Gerneration Y which contains people born as low was 1978 and as high as 2002. This generation is more characteristic of dramatic technological advances especially with computers and the internet age (Kersten, 2002). All these classifications showcase a general overiew of the shared characteristics each generation independently has.

            On a personal level, I’m interested in this topic because of the wide array of areas it affects. Just by observing my parents who still resorts to calling/emailing to stay in contact with friends instead of social networking tools such as Facebook, I can see the increasing role it has on different aspects of life. Especially as a business major, I’ve noticed that generational differences play a center role in the work force.For example, it is becoming common to see younger generations replacing older ones simply because the firms feel like the younger ones have more edge and tech savvy skills. This especially pertains to me because I see myself facing the future dilemma of getting a job at the cost of an older experienced person getting laid off. (Lee, 2006)

            Thus, this blog will explore the topic of generational differences especially taking into consideration the diversity within. The three diversity elements that will be analyzed will include status, race, and gender. I will research how each diverse experience plays a role in generational differences. I feel like the best way to eliminate generational misunderstandings and conflicts is to learn and understand that each generation and diversity sector has its own distinct attitudes, expectations, and values. I look forward to posting more related posts throughout this semester!

1. Niemiec, S. (2002). Finding common ground for all ages. Security Distributing and Marketing, 30

2. Kersten, D. (2002). Today’s generations face new communication gaps. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from http://www.usatoday.com/money/jobcenter/ workplace/communications/200

3. Lee, J. A. (2006). Generational differences in the workforce. Presented at the Career-banding Implementation and HR Innovations Conference. Retrieved januaru 28, 2012, from http://www.osp.state.nc.us/CareerBanding/NC%20HR%20JAL%20