A Time to Introspect

With the women who shaped their own destiny in Vijayawada.

March is women’s history month, an important time to think about where we’ve been and where we’re going.  I’ve just finished reading a report put out by the White House on the status of women in the United States (Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being).  I am very conscious of the fact that the situation of women in my country has changed enormously over my life time, and many changes have occurred since I last lived in the U.S. in 1998.  This report, though, shows how far women have come in just about every area.  It got me thinking about how fortunate I am, compared to my mother and grandmother.

Education:  I’m the first woman in my family to complete a bachelor’s degree, but my mother and grandmother, unusually for their time, both enrolled in university before dropping out to get married.  Today in the U.S., there are more women than men enrolled in higher education at every level.  And they aren’t dropping out to get married.  Women earn 60% of bachelor’s degrees and about half of all law and medical degrees.  They lag behind only in science, technology and engineering. 

Family:  My grandmother was sixteen when she married, my mother was 18, and I was 44.  Since 1950, the average age at first marriage for women in the United States has increased from 20 to 26.

Employment:  Both my mother and my grandmother worked all their lives, but in their day, that was the exception.  In 1950, only 33% of adult American women were in the labor force.  In 2009, that figure was 61%.  During the recent recession in the U.S., unemployment rose rapidly in professions dominated by men, like manufacturing and construction, but much less so in professions dominated by women, like education and health care.  And even with recovery, the fields in which women work are expected to represent a growing share of the U.S. economy of the future.

Income:  My mother worked two or even three jobs throughout her life to earn enough to support a family.  I am grateful to have a job that provides a secure living and know how lucky I am to have a husband who was willing to put his career on the back burner to support me in mine.  American working women have made strides toward equality in recent decades.  Earnings of women working full time in the U.S. have increased 31% since 1979; men’s earnings have increased only 2% over that period.  However, I’m more fortunate than most American women.  Although they are making up ground, women still earn only a little more than 80% as much as men with the same qualifications.

I know that that situation for women in India today is very different from that in the U.S., and that there are large differences in society, culture and history.  Women may have more political representation in India than in the U.S., but less economic power.  I suspect, though, that today’s urban, educated Indian women are living very different lives than their mothers and grandmothers.  I’d be interested to hear their stories.