The Opt-Out Generation Wants Back In Analysis

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Gender Diversity and Organizational Change
The 21st century has marked the beginning of this new phenomenon called the opt-out revolution as stated by Judith Warner. She opens her article The Opt-Out Generation Wants Back In, with a story about a “mega-achiever” woman, Sheilah O’Donnel, who went from the high ranks of the professional world to a stay at home mother of three children, post recession. Warner was interested in the turn of times and what it had in store for those women who gave up their careers in the late 1990’s to stay at home, “the women of the opt-out revolution left the workforce at a time when the prevailing ideas about motherhood idealized full-time, round-the-clock, child-centered devotion.” (Warner, 2013) This illustrates
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Many cultures demonstrate this belief that women’s primary responsibility is housekeeping and childcare, therefore they are typically discriminated against when it comes to opportunities for job advancement (Coronel, 2010). Due to the advances women have made it is much more common to pursue a career before settling down to have a family, however this creates a divide when it comes to returning back to the workforce. The equality movement for women has seen a significant upheaval since the early 1900’s; Women since have gained the right to vote, obtain and own property, and become political heavy hitters. Although, gender inequality especially within the workplace still persists for women all over the world despite the fact that more and more women are choosing to pursue careers and job opportunities that even 50 years ago would be strictly male dominated there is still some barriers we have yet to face. Barriers are the internal/external events and conditions that make professional advancement/mobility difficult for women (Coronel, 2010). Women first began working outside the home during the Industrial Revolution mostly in textile factories at unfair wages with unreasonable hours in addition to still being responsible for the domestic work once off from work. Since then the number of women entering the workforce and gaining more noticeable presences is on the rise, now women are taking on positions among men, equal to men. Although, historically, America has been an androcentric society, culturally, we are shifting into a new age of equality and the present is in the midst of a revolution of gender equality, a battle believed to have been fought and