A quiet revolution: Women gradually taking over

In an earlier post, I commented that we need to acknowledge the changes and progress we have achieved when it comes to the rights and responsibilities for women.


The Economist has the same idea as well, which simply delights me :-)  The magazine calls this the greatest social change of our time, and notes that 

within the next few months women will cross the 50% threshold and become the majority of the American workforce. Women already make up the majority of university graduates in the OECD countries and the majority of professional workers in several rich countries, including the United States. Women run many of the world’s great companies, from PepsiCo in America to Areva in France.

Yes, indeed.  As a kid, my formative years were when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of India.  And then there was Golda Meir, and Sirimavo Bandaranaike.  So, I did not know anything better than the reality that there was no difference between men and women.  I think it also helped that I had a sister who was five years older and she and her fellow girls were as good as the boys at school.  Many of my own girl classmates were good and competitive students as well.  And, of course, I had a big time crush on one of those girls :-)

As I grew older, my experiences did not provide me with anything to change my mind and, to some extent, I was always puzzled that there were lots of people who had a tough time understanding Annie Oakley's line of "anything you can do, I can do better"

Now, the daughter is training to be a brain surgeon. I have females in my extended family working away as well as, or even better than, their male counterparts at leading multinational firms.  Female colleagues and friends who are even better than some of the male colleagues I have had.  I mean, if at all, I can only imagine that the female power will be way more than the male power as we reach equal rights throughout the world.

As the Economist notes though,

If the empowerment of women was one of the great changes of the past 50 years, dealing with its social consequences will be one of the great challenges of the next 50.

Population growth is undoubtedly the domain where we will see the most of the consequences.  After all, biology restricts reproduction--and I am thankful for that! Bringing up children then will dramatically change as well.  So will taking care of the elederly--most of these were traditionally the responsibilities for women.

The magazine further notes that:

The trend towards more women working is almost certain to continue. In the European Union women have filled 6m of the 8m new jobs created since 2000. In America three out of four people thrown out of work since the recession began are men; the female unemployment rate is 8.6%, against 11.2% for men. The Bureau of Labour Statistics calculates that women make up more than two-thirds of employees in ten of the 15 job categories likely to grow fastest in the next few years. By 2011 there will be 2.6m more women than men studying in American universities.

Women will also be the beneficiaries of the growing “war for talent”. The combination of an ageing workforce and a more skill-dependent economy means that countries will have to make better use of their female populations. 

Good for them, and good for all of us.

I hope that this quiet revolution will soon spread to the many parts of the world where women are considered a level or two lower than men ..... I suppose the ignorant have no clue that the times are changing, and changing rapidly.