Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
1-31-1987
Degree Name
Master of Science in Management - (M.S.)
Department
Organizational and Social Sciences
First Advisor
Sanford Bordman
Abstract
The eighth wonder of the world is fast becoming the great American job machine The employment rate has declined in most industrial nations while 20 million jobs have been created in the U. S. during the past 10 years. The principal reason for this rise in job placements is the large influx of women into the labor force.
Two-thirds of the jobs created over the past decade have been seized by women. The post-industrial environment which has produced an extensive number of service-type businesses has substantially opened the job market for women. Financial experts will contend that an expanding labor force can assist in propelling an economy into a fast growth track. Therefore, the U. S. appears to have developed a healthier economy due to this phenomenon than other countries who also suffered the economic shocks of the 70's. During the past decade, the real GNP of the U. ST--h-as-risen faster th-a-n-i-n-any other major industrialized nation with the exception of Japan. The economy is finally tapping an important and previously wasted resource which is women.
Seventy percent of the American households were headed and completely supported by men in 1950. Less than 15% of these same households today fit this model. Participation of women in the labor force rose from 33.9% in 1950 to over 52% in 1981 while the growth rate for men decreased from 86.4% to 77.2%.
At the beginning of the next decade, 90% of the female population will have worked or will be working at some time in their lives. Some of the reasons which have stimulated this phenomenon are birth control, a re-examination of the anatomical destiny of women and men, dual career families, inflation and recessions, higher rate of divorce, and kitchen technologies.
In 1975, only 39 million women between the ages of 24-44 existed but over 60 million women will be available for work by 1990 This population increase and the continuous acquisition of jobs by women has stimulated discussion as to the woman's ability to cope with dual careers--one at work and the other at home. Men have for a long time endured the stressful occurrences of the working environment but they did not have to contend with the management of the home. Professional women must experience both common stressors and also unique stressors such as discrimination and the sex-role stereotypical attitudes of society. Men do face the same common stressors in most cases but not the unique stressors. The traditional perspective of the working woman has produced a wide-range of unique stressors. For example, the organizational environment may not view the woman manager as career-minded as the man; therefore, she is depicted as a non-promotable, short-term employee. The working woman and her related stress encounters, which are various and complex, cannot be studied in the same manner as men are. This thesis paper will address the effects of the organizational, extraorganizational, and unique stressors which are experienced by the working woman.
Recommended Citation
Byers, Tommie Mae, "Stress and today's working woman" (1987). Theses. 3054.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/3054
