Women and Choice of Employment
Over the years, as and how women working have been normalized, we have all seen women working in the most versatile jobs and places; from teaching students, to coaching sportsmen and from fighting for the rights of underprivileged to rendering justice to the needy and deserving. We have seen it all. Then why has the society limited its vision of women working only in educational fields? If someone wants to work, why is she given an option only to either teach or nurse? In the educational and medical field, no doubt teachers and nurses are very essential, yet they are always dominated over by doctors and institutional heads, that are usually male. Why is there a stereotypical thinking that women ‘need’ to be overpowered by men at home and outside?
Not only this, but also women are thought to be fragile, delicate and weak. This is why they are encouraged to take up jobs in the teaching or nursing area, if at all. Contrary to this, we must now stop worshipping such stereotypes and the ‘male-ego.’ A doctor is a doctor, a cop is a cop, a scientist is a scientist, a teacher is a teacher, a nurse is a nurse, a footballer is a footballer, no matter male or female. In the United States, women are usually seen in the occupations of kindergarten teachers, dentists, childcare workers, secretaries and administrative assistants, dieticians, nutritionists, hairstylists, cosmetologists, etc. On the other hand, Indian women are mostly known to have worked in fields like politics, entertainment industry, cultivation, labor, writing, in the services, law, journalism, sports, cabin crew, Human Resources related jobs, Government jobs, etc. Breaking stereotypes, women have also worked as drivers, auto-rickshaw drivers, mechanics, etc. that are supposedly working areas of men.
The point here is, women have and shall remain to work and excel in all different fields like Oprah Winfrey, Phoolan Devi, P. V. Sindhu, Kalpana Chawla, Apurvi Chandela, Kiran Bedi, Kamala Harris, Marilyn Monroe, Brenda Howard, Elizabeth Blackwell, Ayesha Aziz and numerous other unnamed heroes. We cannot limit them to participate or succeed only in teaching or nursing related jobs. Women shall make their own choice to choose their field of employment as it is their constitutional right. Nobody can curb their rights and keep it from them, not even the society. It is time we developed as an open-minded and stereotype-free society and let women live their dreams and make their nations proud.
A woman myself,
Shubhangini Shaktawat