Top Ten Jobs for Women 2012

Forbes has an article that describes the best top ten jobs for women in 2012. The author of Best Jobs for the 21st Century, Lauren Shatkin, Ph.D., compiled a list of jobs where women feel the most satisfied and successful. The list is as follows:

1. Postsecondary Teachers

2. Anthropologists

3. Oceanographers

4. Natural Sciences Managers

5. Clergy

6. Surveyors

7. Chief Executives

8. Geoscientists

9. Medical Professionals (Dentists, Optometrists, Physicians, etc.)

10. Aerospace Engineers

According to Shatkin independence and autonomy played a major role with the jobs chosen; job security is an important priority as well. I was very surprised with the list, it might be because I rarely hear women speaking about working in these kind of jobs, besides medical professions. I guess the jobs that are less spoken of are the ones that have women the happiest.

Where does Machismo Exist?

The term machismo means excessive masculinity, I have heard it throughout my life. I come from a hispanic culture and in many latin american countries machismo still exist today. However, it is decreasing in my opinion. Yes there are still some men who believe that a woman’s job is to clean the house, take care of their kids, and husbands. I know personally several men who still think that way. Most of the men that I know who are still very machistas are older men, usually in their 40’s and 50’s, there are a few who are in their 30’s. Younger hispanic men are realizing that women aren’t properties and that they have to be respected and treated like human beings. Not all men that are from latin america are like this, of course. Machismo is linked only to latin america but there are other countries where male domination exist as well. For example, middle eastern countries are definitely dominated by men. Women have no say, as well as in India. The United States use to be a male dominated country as well, but it has improved, although it could be better. I think in general many countries have machismo, but they are refered as male dominated countries. In my opinion, machismo and male dominated are practically the same things, the difference is that one word is in spanish and the other in english.

Best Paying Jobs for Women

Recently, I ran into an article on Yahoo describing the best paying jobs for women in 2011. Forbes women found that health care and tech, are fields were women can earn the most money. The number one best paying job is female physicians and surgeons. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that women with these careers earned a median of $1,618 per week. The second best paying job for women is pharmacist, they earn $1,605 per week. Chief executives came in, in third place, earning $1,598 per week. The rest are described below, starting with No. 10.

10. Human Resources Managers

      Median weekly earnings: $1,170

9. Computer Programmers

    Median weekly earnings: $1,177

8. Speech-language pathologists 

    Median weekly earnings: $1,184

7. Physical Therapists

    Median weekly earnings: $1,208

6. Computer and Information Systems Managers

     Median weekly earnings: $1,415

5. Computer Software Engineers

    Median weekly earnings: $1,445

4. Lawyers

    Median weekly earnings: $1,461

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/04/20/best-paying-jobs-for-women-2011/

Women who Made History

There are so many women who have made history for their accomplishments. They caused a major impact in their times and are recognized for their bravery and dedicating their lives to help out the world. Some of these brave women are Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clara Barton, Sacajawea, Emily Dickinson, Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, Clara Maass, Nellie Bly, Frida Kahlo, Sojourner Truth, and there are many, many more. They dedicated their lives for the good of the world and they stood up for what they believed in. These women did so much while they lived, they should always be recognized for their contributions. Women were not only good at cooking, and being good wives, they also had the capability to raise awareness and change our country, and the world.   

Modeling Narrowed Down to a Certain Body Type

 

 

 

 

Do models have to be skinny or curvy to be considered beautiful in the fashion industry? That’s the question that comes into my mind when I look at models now and models in the 1950’s. In the past a models average height was 5’7 weighing about 129, now models are 5’9 and weigh approximately 114. Many models in the 1950’s had curves, but now a woman has to be very skinny to be able to work as a model. I don’t understand why certain body types for women are considered beautiful and others aren’t. Every woman is different and in every era women have to be a certain weight and height to be considered beautiful by society. In the past you had to be curvy to be beautiful, now you have to be skinny. It is so frustrating that women always have to struggle with their body image to be considered beautiful. Why can’t people just be healthy, that should be considered beautiful. There are some women who are naturally skinny, and others who are naturally curvy. If that’s their natural body type, they shouldn’t have to starve themselves to be able to work as models or they shouldn’t have to eat in excessive amounts to gain weight. Being healthy is the most important, when it comes to body image. Exercising and eating the right food will make someone feel and look great. Society and the media should stop criticizing women, instead of promoting the “right figure”, they should start promoting healthy women with various body types. This will help many women with self-esteem issues and it will make all women feel great about themselves.                                            

Female body shape timeline

 1800s:The ideal was plump, fleshy, full-figured. Corsets made waists artificially tiny while accentuating hips and buttocks and making for digestive tract problems.

 

1900s-1950s:Thinner became more fashionable. By the 1920s, the Victorian hourglass gave way to the flapper, who bound her breasts to achieve a washboard profile. By the 1950s, a thin woman with a large bust was considered most attractive, thanks largely to Marilyn Monroe. Women now needed to rebuild the curves they had tried to bind and restrain. 

 

1960s: For the first time in history, a severely underweight woman became the female ideal with the arrival of model Twiggy. Weighing in at a shapeless 91 pounds on a 5-foot-6 frame, she had the look of a prepubescent boy.

1970 to today: As the average American got heavier, Playboy magazine promoted slimness through 1978. Miss America winners after 1970 weighed less than the other contestants. The 1980s beauty ideal remained slim but required a more toned and fit look. The 1990s body ideal was Pamela “Baywatch” Anderson, an almost impossible combination of anorexia with gravity-defying breasts.

Today: Thin is in, as is artificial means such as liposuction lessen hips, buttocks and fat in general. In 1975 top models and beauty queens weighed only 8 percent less than the average women. Today they weigh 23 percent less. Both eating disorders and obesity are on the rise.

Articles: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/morning-file/heres-the-skinny-on-fashion-models-450220/

http://www.d.umn.edu/~jvaleri/dissatisfaction%20with%20bodies.htm

Why Do Some Women Kill?

                                                                                 Recently I ran into an article in abc news about the issue of women who are killers. It explains why some women murder and what is the difference between women killing and men killing. James Alan Fox, a criminologist explains that women are different in whom, how, and why they kill. Usually their victims are related to them and they tend to use less extreme violence. When women murder, especially if they murder their children, society condemn’s them more, in my opinion than men. This occurs because a woman is seen as a nurturer, kind, sweet, and nonviolent. There are many cases in which women have killed their children, either because they suffer from mental illness, abuse, personality disorder, or they are just plain heartless. Some cases who made news were those of Diane Downs, Andrea Yates, Beverly Allit, Lisa Montgomery, and  Tinning. Even though some women might suffer from mental illness they should get punished for the murderers they committed, for the victim’s sake and the family’s. 

Article of Why Some Women Murder? http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7326555

Women and the Music Industry

I recently read an article in the Washington Post titled “MTV Portrays Female as Sex Objects”. The link to the article is: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/hs/mckinley/2007/03/mtv_portrays_female_as_sex_obj.html

It talks about how women are portrayed as sex objects in music videos and explains why men are not portrayed this way. I agree with the writer of this article because women are shown negatively and called names in many music videos and music songs. There are many music videos that show women wearing provocative clothes and sometimes they are practically wearing nothing. There are also many songs that have lyrics that insult women, calling them sluts, whores, strippers, etc. I avoid music videos that show women in bars or degrading places because it disappoints me that women are seen only as sex objects and not as real human beings. It is also very disappointing that women are only portrayed for their physical looks and not for what they really count for, which is their personality and intelligence.

Portrayal of Women in Disney Films through the years

                                                                                 Has the portrayal of women in Disney films changed over time? In my opinion, Disney films have improved their female characters, although it has taken them many years. Snow White was the first princess film Disney created, it came out in 1937, so that means women were seen as dull, quiet, and as inferior to men in those times. During the early 20th century, women’s role were to be housewives, have children, and take care of their husband’s, thinking was something they weren’t suppose to do, they had to leave that to the men. That is why Snow White is portrayed as a housewife, she cleans up after the seven dwarfs while they are working. They make her character very naive as well because she eats the apple that the evil witch gives her without having second thoughts. In the end Snow White is saved by the prince. Why does the prince appear at the end? why didn’t he appear during the middle of film where the whole problem occurred to save Snow White before? They had to end it by boy saving girl, like the typical movies made during those years.

         Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are portrayed in similar ways as Snow White. They both, at the end marry their prince and live happily ever after, after being saved from the evil women who tried to destroy them. These three princesses are saved by either a prince or rats, they are not saved with ideas that occurred to them, or actions that they came up with.

       Disney princesses begin to change quite a bit in the year 1989, when The Little Mermaid came out. The difference Ariel has with the rest of the other characters is that she is not obedient or submissive, on the other hand, she is defiant, stubborn, and curious. However, the film still portrays women as dumb, and that the only way they can get a guy is by their looks. In Beauty and the Beast, Belle is smart and not interested in marrying the handsome guy all the girls in her town are interested in. She prefers to read a book than to go out with him. The people from her town criticize her because they find it odd for a woman to be smart, have dreams of her own, and to read so much. Belle falls in love with the Beast and I think it would have been a good ending if the Beast didn’t change into the handsome prince because it would show that looks are not important when it comes to true love. Although Belle is very different from the other princess, one thing they still have in common is that at the end they all marry.

      In 1995 Pocahontas came out and it was the first film that Disney created were the princess does not marry the prince. Pocahontas had the choice to leave with John Smith and have a “better life”, but she decides to stay with her people. Another film that showed change in women’s roles was Mulan. This film came out in 1998 and it is the first film that Disney created, were a woman is seen as capable to take on the role of men. Mulan becomes a soldier in the Chinese Imperial Army but she has to be disguised as a man. She goes against society’s expectations, instead of preparing to find a good husband and training to be a good wife, she rescues China. She is the first princess who does not need to be rescued by her prince. She is also another princess who does not marry at the end of the film. 

        Another film that came out recently where the Princess is portrayed very differently from the first princesses that came out is Rapunzel from Tangled. In this film Rapunzel is the first princess not to fall in love immediately with the handsome prince or in this case a robber. She is the first princess who fights the guy and distrusts him. This movies portrays Rapunzel like women act in this century. Women don’t fall in love immediately with the first guy they meet and marry him promptly. When Rapunzel and Flynn do fall in love, Rapunzel still has doubts if his love for her is sincere. Disney films have had many changes over the years and hopefully they will keep improving the portrayal of women.

 

 

Portrayal of Women in Video Games

Objectification and sexualization of women in video games have caused controversies due to the unrealistic portrayal of female characters in some video games. The women are shown with clothing that are very revealing of their breast, legs, and buttocks. Even though, they may fight the villans, the portrayal of them in this way does not improve the role of women. Some of the female characters are created to have unrealistic breast due to their size. It appears as if the main focus of these games is the appearance of women instead of the story that it’s supposed to tell. Rape and violence are also issues that some video games promote against women. Not all video games are like this but many of them that have women as lead roles depict them as sexual objects.

Women in Pride and Prejudice

      The role of women during the late 18th and early 19th century was to get married, have children, and to obey men. These were the primary roles of women and disobeying would cause quite a shock. However, in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth, the main character of the film is ahead of her time because she is strong and she expresses her own opinion without being afraid of what people might say or think. Even though at the end of the film Elizabeth chose the life of a 19th century woman, she did not do it for money, she was one of the few women that did it for love. During those times women married for money because they depended on men and they could not work that is why the only answer to their financial issues would be marriage. Woman would be desperate to marry because if their parents died and if they had no brothers no one would take care of them and they would have to go to desperate measures to obtain money to live. I am glad times have changed and women are considered actual human beings instead of objects. Now we have the liberty to express our own thoughts and emotions, we can work, we don’t depend on men, and we don’t have to marry for money.