Some of the notable Pakistani women in the field of

computing[61], education and business are:

• Rahila Narejo, Author, Columnist, Human Resource

Consultant, CEO NHR
• Safia Khalil Rizvi, Computational Biologist ,
GlaxoSmithKline
• Samina Rizwan, Area Manager, Oracle Corporation
Pakistan
• Jehan Ara, CEO, Enabling Technologies
• Wajiha Malik, President IOPWE
• Sophia Hasnain, Technology Analyst
• Marvi Ali, CEO Trakker
• Tauseef Hyat, Executive Director, Developments in Literacy
• Rabia Garib, Editor-in-chief CIO Pakistan and NetExpress
• Bernadette Louise Dean, Principal of Kinnaird College,
Lahore
• Mary Emily, recipient of the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for services to
education

Historically, in the 19th century, feminist-sympathetic

movements within the South Asian Muslim community tried to
counter social evils against Muslim women through the custom
of purdah (where women were forcibly isolated from social
contact, primarily with men). Other Muslim reformers such as
Syed Ahmad Khan tried to bring education to women, limit
polygamy, and empower women in other ways through
education[2]. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was
known to have a positive attitude towards women[2]. After the
formation of Pakistan, women's groups and feminist
organizations started by prominent leaders like Fatima Jinnah to
form that worked to eliminate social injustices against women in
Pakistan.

The Pakistani women were granted the suffrage in 1947[3], and

they gained the rights to vote in national elections in 1956[4]. The
provision of reservation of seats for women in the Parliament
existed throughout the constitutional history of Pakistan from
1956 to 1973.
[edit] Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Government

The democratic regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1970–1977) was a

period of liberal attitudes towards women. All government
services were opened to women including the district
management group and the foreign service (in the civil service),
which had been denied to them earlier. About 10 percent of the
seats in the National Assembly and 5 percent in the provincial
assemblies were reserved for women. However, the
implementation of these policies was poor as the Government
faced a financial crisis due to the war with India and consequent
split of the country[1].

Gender equality was specifically guaranteed in the Constitution

of Pakistan adopted in 1973. The constitution stipulates that
"there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone." The
Constitution additionally affords the protection of marriage,
family, the mother and the child as well as ensuring "full
participation of women in all spheres of national life."[5].
However, many judges upheld the "laws of Islam", often
misinterpreted, over the Constitution’s guarantee of non-
discrimination and equality under the law[6].

In 1975, an official delegation from Pakistan participated in the

First World Conference on Women in Mexico, which led to the
constitution of the first Pakistan Women's Rights Committee.

[edit] Zia-ul-haq's military regime

Main article: Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization

General Zia ul-Haq, then Army chief of staff, overthrew the

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto government in a military coup in July 1977.
The Sixth Plan during the martial law regime of General Zia-ul-
Haq (1977–1986) was full of policy contradictions. The regime
took many steps toward institutional building for women's
development, such as the establishment of the Women's
Division in the Cabinet Secretariat, and the appointment of
another commission on the Status of Women. A chapter on
women in development was included for the first time in the
Sixth Plan. The chapter was prepared by a working group of 28
professional women headed by Syeda Abida Hussain,
chairperson of a Jhang District council at that time. The main
objective as stated in the Sixth Plan was "to adopt an integrated
approach to improve women's status"[1]. In 1981, General Zia-ul-
Haq nominated the Majlis-e-Shoora (Federal Advisory Council)
and inducted 20 women as members, however Majlis-e-Shoora
had no power over the executive branch[7]. In 1985, the National
Assembly elected through nonparty elections doubled women's
reserved quota (20 percent).

However, Zial-ul-Haq initiated a process of Islamization by

introducing discriminatory legislation against women such as
the set of Hudood Ordinances and the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order
(Law of Evidence Order). He banned women from participating
and from being spectators of sports and promoted purdah[1]. He
suspended all fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution
that had been adopted in 1973, including the right to be free of
discrimination on the basis of sex. He also proposed laws
regarding Qisas and Diyat, Islamic penal laws governing
retribution (qisas) and compensation (diyat) in crimes involving
bodily injury. When the victim was a woman, the amount of diyat
was halved[8]

The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979

was a subcategory of the Hudood Ordinance. Zina is the crime
of non-marital sexual relations and adultery. The Zina Ordinance
included zina-bil-jabr, the category of forced intercourse. If the
woman who accuses a man of zina-bil-jabr (rape) cannot prove
to the judicial system that she was raped, she faces adultery
charges[9]. In order for a rapist to receive "hadd," the maximum
punishment provided for under the Quran, either the rapist must
confess to the rape, or four pious adult Muslim men must
witness the "act of penetration" itself and testify against the
rapist[10]. Under Qanun-e-Shahadat, a woman's testimony was
not weighed equally to that of a man[11]. Thus, if a woman does
not have male witnesses but does have female witnesses, their
testimony would not satisfy the evidence requirement. The
perpetrator may be acquitted and the victim may face adultery
charges. The threat of being prosecuted discourages victims
from filing complaints.
In addition, the legal possibility of marital rape was eliminated;
by definition, rape became an extramarital offense according to
the Zina ordinance. The ordinance prompted international
criticism. Women's rights groups helped in the production of a
film titled "Who will cast the first stone?" filmmaker by Sabiha
Sumar to highlight the oppression and sufferings of women
under the Hudood Ordinances.[12]

In September 1981, the first conviction and sentence under the

Zina Ordinance, of stoning to death for Fehmida and Allah
Bakhsh were set aside under national and international
pressure. In September 1981, women came together in Karachi
in an emergency meeting to oppose the adverse effects on
women of martial law and the Islamization campaign. They
launched what later became the first full-fledged national
women's movement in Pakistan, the Women's Action Forum
(WAF). WAF staged public protests and campaigns against the
Hudood Ordinances, the Law of Evidence, and the Qisas and
Diyat laws (temporarily shelved as a result)[13].

In 1983, an orphaned, thirteen-year old girl Jehan Mina was

allegedly raped by her uncle and his sons, and became
pregnant. She was unable to provide enough evidence that she
was raped. She was charged with adultery and the court
considered her pregnancy as the proof of adultery. She was
awarded the Tazir punishment of one hundred lashes and three
years of rigorous imprisonment[14].

In 1983, Safia Bibi, a nearly blind teenaged domestic servant was

allegedly raped by her employer and his son. Due to lack of
evidence, she was convicted for adultery under the Zina
ordinance, while the rapists were acquitted. She was sentenced
to fifteen lashes, five years imprisonment, and a fine of 1000
rupees. The decision attracted so much publicity and
condemnation from the public and the press that the Federal
Shariah Court of its own motion, called for the records of the
case and ordered that she should be released from prison on
her own bond. Subsequently, on appeal, the finding of the trial
court was reversed and the conviction was set aside[15].
The International Commission of Jurists mission to Pakistan in
December 1986 called for repealing of certain sections of the
Hudood Ordinances relating to crimes and so-called "Islamic"
punishments which discriminate against women and non-
Muslims.

There is considerable evidence that legislations during this

period have negatively impacted Pakistani women's lives and
made them more vulnerable to extreme violence. Majority of
women in prison were charged under the Hudood Ordinance.
Similarly, a national level study conducted in dar-ul-amans
(shelters for women) mentioned that 21 percent of women had
Hudood cases against them[16]. According to a 1998 report by
Amnesty International, more than one-third of all Pakistani
women in prison were being held due to having been accused or
found guilty of zina[17].

[edit] Benazir Bhutto Government

After Zia-ul-Haq's regime, there was a visible change in the

policy context in favor of women. The Seventh, Eighth, and
Ninth plans formulated under various democratically elected
regimes have clearly made efforts to include women's concerns
in the planning process. However, planned development failed
to address gender inequalities due to the gap between policy
intent and implementation[1].

In 1988, Benazir Bhutto (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's daughter) became

the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, and the first woman
elected to head a Muslim country[18]. During her election
campaigns, she voiced concerns over social issues of women,
health and discrimination against women. She also announced
plans to set up women's police stations, courts and women's
development banks. She also promised to repeal controversial
Hudood laws that curtailed the rights of women However, during
her two incomplete terms in office (1988–90 and 1993–96),
Benazir Bhutto did not propose any legislation to improve
welfare services for women. She was not able to repeal a single
one of Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization laws. By virtue of the eighth
constitutional amendment imposed by Zia-ul-Haq, these laws
were protected both from ordinary legislative modification and
from judicial review[13]. .

In early 1988, the case of Shahida Parveen and Muhammad

Sarwar sparked bitter public criticism. Shahida's first husband,
Khushi Muhammad, had divorced her and the papers had been
signed in front of a magistrate. The husband however, had not
registered the divorce documents in the local council as
required by law, rendering the divorce not legally binding.
Unaware of this, Shahida, after her mandatory 96 day period of
waiting (iddat), remarried. Her first husband, rebounding from a
failed attempt at a second marriage, decided he wanted his first
wife Shahida back. Shahida's second marriage was ruled invalid.
She and her second husband, Sarwar were charged with
adultery. They were sentenced to death by stoning[14]. The public
criticism led to their retrial and acquittal by the Federal Shariah
Court.

Ministry of Women's Development (MWD) established Women's

Studies centers at five universities in Islamabad, Karachi,
Quetta, Peshawar, and Lahore in 1989. However, four of these
centers became almost non-functional due to lack of financial
and administrative support[1]. Only the center at University of
Karachi (funded by the Canadian International Development
Agency) was able to run a master of arts program.

The First Women Bank Ltd. (FWBL) was established in 1989 to

address women's financial needs. FWBL, a nationalized
commercial bank, was given the role of a development finance
institution, as well as of a social welfare organization. It operates
38 branches across the country, managed and run by women.
MWD provided a credit line of Rs48 million to FWBL to finance
small-scale credit schemes for disadvantaged women. The
Social Action Program launched in 1992/93 aimed at reducing
gender disparities by improving women's access to social
services.

Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All

Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on February
29, 1996[19]. The Ministry of Women Development (MWD) is the
designated national focal machinery for its implementation.
However MWD has been facing lack of adequate resources for
the implementation[1]. Pakistan failed to submit its initial report
that was due in 1997[20]. Also, Pakistan neither signed nor ratified
the Optional Protocol of the Women’s Convention, which has led
to non-availability of avenues for filing grievances by individuals
or groups against Pakistan under CEDAW[6].

[edit] Nawaz Sharif Government

In 1997, Nawaz Sharif, a political protégé of Zia-ul-Haq, was

elected as the Prime Minister. He had also held office for a
truncated term (1990–1993), during which he had promised to
adopt Islamic law as the supreme law of Pakistan.

In 1997, the Nawaz Sharif government formally enacted the

Qisas and Diyat Ordinance, which institutes shariah-based
changes in Pakistan's criminal law. The ordinance had earlier
been kept in force by invoking the president's power to re-issue
it every four months[13].

Sharif then proposed a fifteenth amendment to the Constitution

that would entirely replace the existing legal system with a
comprehensive Islamic one and would override the "constitution
and any law or judgment of any court."[21]. The proposal was
approved in the National Assembly (lower house), where Sharif's
party has a commanding majority, but, it remained stalled in the
Senate after facing strong opposition from women's groups,
human rights activists, and opposition political parties[22].

A 1997 ruling by the Lahore High Court, in the highly publicized

Saima Waheed case, upheld a woman's right to marry freely but
called for amendments to the family laws, on the basis of Islamic
norms, to enforce parental authority to discourage "love
marriages"[13].

The report of the Inquiry of the Commission for Women (1997)

clearly stated that the Hudood legislation must be repealed as it
discriminates against women and is in conflict with their
fundamental rights. A similar commission during Benazir
Bhutto's regime had also recommended amending certain
aspects of Hudood ordinance. However, neither Benazir Bhutto
nor Nawaz Sharif implemented these recommendations.

The enhancement of women's status was stated as one of the 16

goals listed in the Pakistan 2010 Program (1997), a critical policy
document. However, the document omits women while listing 21
major areas of interests. Similarly, another major policy
document, the "Human Development and Poverty Reduction
Strategy" (1999), mentioned women as a target group for
poverty reduction but lacks gender framework.

The country's first all-women university, named after Fatima

Jinnah, was inaugurated on 6 August 1998. It suffered from
delays in the release of development funds from the Federal
Government[1].

[edit] Pervez Musharraf's regime

In 2000, the Church of Pakistan ordained its first women

deacons[23]. In 2002 (and later during court trials in 2005), the
case of Mukhtaran Mai brought the plight of rape victims in
Pakistan under an international spotlight. On September 2, 2004,
the Ministry of Women Development was made independent
ministry, separating from the Social Welfare and Education
Ministry.

In July 2006, General Pervez Musharraf asked his Government to

begin work on amendments to the controversial 1979 Hudood
Ordinances introduced under Zia-ul-Haq's regime[24]. He asked
the Law Ministry and the Council of Islamic Ideology (under
Ministry of Religious Affairs) to build a consensus for the
amendments to the laws. On July 7, 2006 General Musharaff
signed an ordinance for the immediate release on bail of around
1300 women who are currently languishing in jails on charges
other than terrorism and murder[25].

In late 2006, the Pakistani parliament passed the Women's

Protection Bill, repealing some of the Hudood Ordinances. The
bill allowed for DNA and other scientific evidence to be used in
prosecuting rape cases[26]. The passing of the Bill and the
consequent signing of it into law by President General Pervez
Musharraf invoked protests from hard-line Islamist leaders and
organisations[27][28]. Some experts also stated that the reforms
will be impossible to enforce[29].

The Cabinet has approved reservation of 10% quota for women

in Central Superior Services in its meeting held on 12 July
2006[30]. Earlier, there was a 10% quota for women across the
board in all Government departments. In December 2006, Prime
Minister Shaukat Aziz approved the proposal by Ministry of
Women Development, to extend this quota to 10%[31].

In 2006, The Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment)

Act was also passed[32]. In December 2006, for the first time,
women cadets from the Military Academy Kukul assumed guard
duty at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah[33].

The Women's Protection bill, however, has been criticized by

many including human rights and women rights activists for
only paying lip service and failing to repeal the Hudood
Ordinancesref>Asian Conflicts Reports, October 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Pakistan

From the beginning of time, women have worked at home, as

well as outside of the home, to contribute to the greater
economic well-being of family. Even in colonial America,
characterized by rural and self sufficient communities, women
assumed roles in the manufacture and sale of goods. Beginning
with the textile mills and the shoemaking industry of
postrevolutionary America, the first real explosion of women
into business appeared at the turn of the century in secretarial
and take-home work situations. By World War I, women were
poised to enter the workforce in great numbers and spurred into
the workplace by the absence of men on the homefront. As men
returned from the war and the economy gradually worsened into
the Great Depression, women suffered displacement from the
business world. World War II created a similar growth of women
in business. Without a serious economic depression and as a
result of changing societal norms, women's roles and functions
in business have steadily increased in the years since World
War II. In 1991 women represented 45 percent of the U.S.
workforce.

Blue-collar workers traditionally evoke images of trades and

manufacturing employees. White-collar employees hold
positions of professional and managerial importance. Women in
business, while represented in both, create a third category
called pink-collar workers. Pink-collar workers are commonly
associated with clerical, sales, and service positions. In each of
these roles, women participate and create a presence. In trade
and manufacturing jobs particularly, the relationship between
women and labor unions has been noteworthy. In professional
and managerial jobs, women are directly exposed to ideas and
conceptions of power and control. And, in service jobs, women,
as the dominant labor force, deal with effects of technology daily
in a compelling way.

The sum total of this historical record and increasing

participation in the workforce brings to light the controversial
matter of a woman's work and worth. In particular, gender
discrimination and pay inequity demonstrate the difficult
transition of women into the business world. Protective
legislation is one demonstration of governmental attempts to
prevent and discourage sex discrimination on the job. Legal
redress for salary inequities is another method of controlling
pay discrimination. Other contributing concerns that women
bring to business include issues about benefits. Child care/elder
care needs accompany women into the business world as do
preferences for flexible scheduling and family leave. These
issues reflect the dual role that women hold in both the business
world and the family/personal world. Married women, mothers,
and older women benefit from workplace accommodations to
individual needs and conflicting priorities when benefits are
tailored accordingly.
HISTORY

In 17thand 18th-century America, women worked at home with

their husbands to contribute to the family's economic support.
Employment opportunities for women were scarce. In this
essentially self supporting rural lifestyle, centers of commerce
emerged as small towns and cities. Working out of necessity,
women became shopkeepers, artisans, and merchants. The
most frequent reason for working was widowhood. Examples of
working women in colonial America are often associated with
the clothing trade. Women printers, however, illustrate a
particularly significant departure from textile-based
employment. Women entrepreneurs such as Elizabeth Timothy
(c. 1700-1757) and Cornelia Smith Bradford (d. 1755) operated as
independent printers and bookbinders in South Carolina and
Boston, respectively, in 18th-century America. The employment
of women in the printing trades was well-regarded and common
at the time. Frequently, a woman would inherit her husband's
printing business at the time of his death. As proprietors and
purveyors of the printed word, women printers enjoyed a small
but significant minority role in colonial America. The impending
war with England created a demand for goods made in America,
thus opening business opportunities to women engaged in the
production of cloth and food. Even as women worked, however,
they still worked out of necessity. The prevailing societal
attitude projected the ideal woman as family oriented, not
business oriented.

As a logical conclusion, postrevolutionary America found

women engaged in the business of working at home. Piecework
or take-home work formed roots during this time that continue
to modern day. In conjunction with increased industrialization,
textile mills in the northeastern states sought women out as a
source of cheap labor and the organized movement of women
into the workforce first appeared. Combined with the endeavors
of early women's rights activists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(1815-1902), the idea of women in the workplace began to gain
approval. Yet, the outspoken cultural preference was still
towards the ideal woman and "spheres of influence." Spheres of
influence refers to a prevailing theory that women belonged in
the private sphere of family while men belonged in the public
sphere of business. As cities grew and transportation improved,
work and business were increasingly conducted from a
centralized location. As a result, homework or piecework
decreased. The influx of immigration from 1840 on increased the
labor force. Society began to embrace the idea of the ideal
woman and diminished the expectation for a woman's
contribution to family financial health. Instead, men assumed the
burden of sole provider while women stayed at home more and
more frequently. With the advent of the Civil War, this model
changed.

Clerical and teaching opportunities opened to women during the

Civil War. Nursing began to assume a professional component
due to the casualties of the war. As a result of the great many
deaths in the Civil War, thousands of women were left to fend for
themselves financially and economically. A conflict arose
between the economic need for survival and the cultural
expectations of family responsibility. Even among wealthy
women, the move from private to public sphere accelerated in
voluntary and charitable outlets.

By the turn of the 19th century, women altered the cultural

landscape by creating the idea of a new woman to replace the
ideal women. Changing ideas of women included the central role
of woman as partner to the economic well-being of the family
and society as a whole. By 1900, more than 20 percent of women
worked for a wage. The range and variety of employment in the
1900 census indicates that women held jobs in law, journalism,
dentistry, medicine, engineering, mining, and other typical
occupations. Women were counted in 295 of the 305
occupations listed on the census. The increasing
industrialization of the United States resulted in a surge in
factory work. More than one million women worked in factories
in 1900. Most of these women were young, single, and foreign-
born. They worked for low wages and knew no job security.
Factories were unsafe and dirty. As a result, the
businesswoman's first association with labor unionism
appeared. In the Uprising of the 20,000 in 1909, women banded
together and struck to protest working conditions and wages in
the clothing industry. Many other labor unions appeared that
either solely represented or incorporated the female employee
during the early 1900s.

Even as women worked in industry to fuel its growth, the

outcome created new business opportunities for women in
clerical jobs. Between 1900 and 1920, the number of women
clerical workers grew from 187,000 to 1,421,000. Women entered
professional and managerial jobs during this time as well.
Health, education, and caring professions emerged to alleviate
suffering caused by industrialization while simultaneously
expanding professional opportunities for women. During World
War I, women assumed many of the roles and jobs of men
during their absence. After the war, however, women were
expected to return to familial pursuits. Still considered a
secondary labor force, women were encouraged to engage in
volunteer and charity work. Many who chose to remain in the
workforce took lower-paying jobs as men returned from military
service.

During World War II, women again entered the workforce in great
numbers. In response to a need for new workers and new
production, six million women went to work during the war.
Society's approval of this phenomena was reflected in posters of
Rosie the Riveter and other cultural signals. Magazines and
movies and other media all reinforced a woman's patriotic duty
to work. Again, however, at the end of the war, women were
encouraged to leave the workplace and return to the family
environment. While half the women in the workplace left
between 1945 and 1946, by 1947 the employment rate of women
had regained its wartime levels. And, by 1950, almost one third
of all women worked outside the home.

From the end of World War II to present, women continued to

gain a significant presence in the work world. In the 1960s, the
women's movement articulated a number of issues that
concerned women employees, including low pay, low status,
and sexual discrimination. Gaining steam, women networked
and organized and successfully lobbied for governmental
protections such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Through a series of
redress such as court decisions, laws, and affirmative action,
women found new rights and opportunities in the workplace.
During this time, married women and mothers continued to
participate in employment outside the home in increasing
numbers. Spurred by consumerism and the need to make more
money to buy more things, married women composed almost
two-thirds of the female labor force in the mid1970s. And, as
more women emerged as single parents, mothers also entered
the workforce in increasing numbers as a matter of economic
survival.

WORKING WOMEN

Women work in the trades and labor jobs, in professional and

managerial jobs, and in the service industry. Although women's
work is as varied as the women themselves, these traditional
categories of workplace employment serve as a useful
framework to evaluate women in business. In trade and labor
employment, women find themselves at particular odds with
male-dominated occupational patterns. For example, blue-collar
jobs are often associated with male-dominated unions. In
professional and managerial jobs, women continue to enter
business only to encounter a phenomena called the glass
ceiling. The glass ceiling documents the rise of women only to a
certain point within a business (i.e., middle management) and
points to sex discrimination as the cause of this limited
advancement. As a result of more equal access to higher
education and professional programs, women continue to
advance themselves within the professional and managerial
fields. In the service sector, women dominate business at the
lowest levels. Almost 45 percent of all working women are
employed within the low-paying and low-status jobs of the
service sector.

TRADES AND UNIONS.

Although women have been members of labor unions since the

early 1800s, their significant participation has been hampered by
economic, cultural, and social reasons. Until wartime, women
and their employers typically viewed the female workforce as
temporary employees. These perceptions made women appear
to be easily replaced, and diluted the effectiveness of any
combined or unionized activities. Additionally, many of the
unions' strongest tactics, including the strike, were perceived by
society and women workers as unfeminine and undesirable. In
1900 only about 2 percent of the female workforce were
unionized. Nevertheless, the harsh conditions of early industrial
America prevailed upon women to organize and unionize for
better working conditions. One of the earliest, the International
Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) represented women in
the textile and garment industries. The 1909 Uprising of the
20,000 saw women flexing their union muscles and striking.
Throughout the next several decades, women participated more
frequently in unions, including the American Federation of Labor
(AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Of the
two, the CIO is historically seen as more sympathetic to women.
Fearful that low wages for women would decrease wages for
men as well, both the AFL and CIO invited women to join and
advocated equal pay. Mary Kenney was the first AFL woman
organizer in 1891. The major unions, however, often exhibited
ambivalent attitudes and actions toward women, including
refusal to take actions against affiliates that excluded women
from membership.

PROFESSIONS AND MANAGEMENT.

As women gained more access to education and professional

programs, their presence began to be felt in professional and
managerial fields. Historically, graduate programs in business
denied entry to women. In 1963, Harvard began to admit women
into the Graduate School of Business Administration. By 1989,
women received almost half the undergraduate degrees awarded
in business nationally and almost a third of all MBAs.
Historically, women gained admittance to managerial and
professional positions in traditionally female fields such as
librarianship and human resource management. Other more
male-dominated professions, however, such as law and
medicine, more frequently reflect women's entrance and
success. As early as 1869, Arabella Mansfield (1846-1911) took
and passed the Iowa bar exam. In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor
(1930-) became the first female Supreme Court judge. In the
interim century, women advanced in law and by 1996, women
accounted for roughly half of all law students and almost one-
third of practicing lawyers. Similarly, in medicine, women such
as Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910; M.D., 1849) proved that
women were competent and capable of performing within the
professional fields. The American Medical Association began
accepting women as members as early as 1876. Yet, until the
1970s, women were poorly represented in all medical fields
except nursing. In 1996 women comprised 20 percent of all
physicians and more than 40 percent of medical students.
Within 15 years, women were expected to account for one-third
of practicing physicians in the United States. Today, women are
present in accounting, architecture, engineering, medicine,
journalism, psychology, and other professional endeavors. Yet,
they remain stymied by the glass ceiling.

The glass ceiling is a theory that attempts to explain why women

do not advance into the uppermost professional and managerial
jobs in business. For example, in medicine, only about 10
percent of women faculty members are full professors while
almost a third of their male colleagues are full professors.
Similar statistics in nearly every managerial or professional
category point to the same inequity. In an apparent self-fulfilling
pattern, productivity seems connected to the number of senior
female positions within the company. Companies such as
Motorola, Inc. programatically approach this problem by setting
goals and structuring promotion and advancement opportunities
that meet their goals. Like Deloitte and Touche, these and other
companies recognize women's worth to the profession and
competitive advance therein.

One result of the glass ceiling has been the rise of women
entrepreneurs. By establishing their own businesses, women
entrepreneurs hope to avoid discriminatory factors and
measures that impair their success in the traditionally male
business world. Women form businesses at nearly twice the rate
of men. And, in the United States, about 6.5 million businesses
are owned or controlled by a woman. Some, such as Elizabeth
Arden (1878-1966), Helena Rubinstein (1870-1965), and Estee
Lauder, made their fortunes in cosmetics while others, such as
Olive Ann Mellor-Beech (1903-1993), inherited their businesses
when their husbands died. By 1996, 3.5 million home-based
businesses were owned by women, and those businesses
provided work for approximately 14 million people.
Discrimination is not absent, however, in the entrepreneurial
world. In April 1994 Congress set a goal for the U.S. government
to put 5 percent of its procurement dollars into women-owned
businesses. Still, during the late 1990s, less than 2 percent of
government procurement spending went to women's firms.

SERVICE INDUSTRY.

The service industry, so thoroughly dominated by the female

labor force, represents another category of employment
frequently called the pink-collar jobs. These pink-collar jobs are
characterized by low pay and low status. Clerical positions are
perhaps the most widely recognized of these positions in the
business world. With the advent of the typewriter in the late
1800s, women came forward to apply for and receive
employment as typists. While previous male clerical workers
had seen these entry level jobs as an effective means to move
up within the organization, female workers soon discovered that
management relied on breaking down clerical tasks so that
workers would be interchangeable. In 1990, 80 percent of all
clerical workers were women and more than 25 percent of all
working women found themselves in clerical jobs. Retail sales
workers account for another large segment of the service sector
employment. Since the early 1900s, retail sales clerks have been
transformed to cashiers with the restructuring of retail from full-
service to self-service format.

WOMEN'S WORTH AND WORK

Early cultural consensus held that women and men enjoyed two
different spheres of influence. Men moved within the public
sphere of influence, including business and commerce, while
women were confined to the private or family sphere of
influence. More than any other factor, the issue of sex
discrimination influences current promotion and pay practices
within the workplace. Sex discrimination emerges from a strong
past belief that women belonged in the home environment and
not in the business environment. Two central tenants of sex
discrimination hold that women do not need the money of
employment since they will be supported by a man and that
women are not as qualified as men. The Equal Pay Act of 1963
and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provided protective legislation
for women and enabled them to legally contest discriminatory
practices in pay and promotion. As a result of these and other
laws, bona fide occupational qualifications exist to define and
determine the extent to which sex relates to ability to
successfully complete a job. The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission is the watchdog governmental agency
set up to deter sex discrimination in the workplace.
Nevertheless, both historically and in modern settings, women
earn less than men for the same work. Comparable worth, or the
principle that equal work deserves equal pay, continues to
evoke considerable controversy since many fear that male
wages will decline rather than women's wages increase.

Three factors account for the origins of the low pay of women.
First, women workers were always seen as merely
supplementing their husband's pay. Even unmarried women
were perceived to be transitional and on their way to domestic
life. Under these assumptions, women did not warrant the
training or education to move to higher-paying jobs even if they
had been available. Second, early professional positions in
nursing, education, and librarianship were outgrowths of
charitable and philanthropic work. Done for charity and "good
works," the pay for these jobs reflected remuneration as an
irrelevant part of employment. Finally, the historical involvement
of women in domestic or housework type employment (e.g.,
sewing, cleaning) tied women's employment to traditional
household duties. These household duties, since they were
unpaid in a familial situation, received low pay in a commercial
situation.
WOMEN'S ISSUES IN BUSINESS

Married women, mothers, older women, and women of color are

all present in the business world along with their single, white
counterparts. In 1998 more than 30 million married women
worked outside the home and women represented 49 percent of
the professional, managerial, and administrative workforce. In
the coming years, women of color will compose the fastest
growing segment of the labor force. Because of their dual role in
the home and at work, women bring to the job new and
previously unconsidered issues in employment. Some of these
issues include child care, elder care, scheduling, and financial
considerations.

As more and more single female parents enter the business

world, the need for child care increases. From a business
perspective, this is imperative to ensure the continued supply of
female workers. In the early 19th century, women were normally
left to their own devices to arrange for child care. Neighbors and
relatives filled this need and, when unavailable, children were
simply left home alone. At the turn of the century, women such
as Josephine Dodge spearheaded philanthropic efforts to
establish child care centers for working mothers. Dormant until
the 1970s, the lack of available child care reflected society's
preference for women to stay at home rather than work. Only
during wartime did the government intervene with subsidized
child-care arrangements to further the employment of women.
With the advent of the 1960s, societal attention turned seriously
to child-care efforts. And, in the 1970s, the White House
Conference on Children addressed child-care issues by
recommending federal funding. Rather than directly subsidizing
child-care needs, federal tax reform in 1976 and 1978 offered tax
relief for funds spent on child care. A relatively small number of
businesses provide child-care arrangements as part of an
employment package. Companies such as Boeing Corporation
offer 24-hour hotline services, and others such as Apple
Computer, Inc. offer on-site facilities. For small businesses,
subsidization of child care can be prohibitively expensive. In
1990 child care accounted for the fourth-largest expense in most
working families.
As life expectancy increases, working women are often faced
with a situation called "the sandwich generation." Caring for
children and aging parents, female workers also bring to the
workplace the issue of elder care. Similar in many ways—
economically and socially—to child care, elder care is expensive
and often requires specialized medical attendants. Almost three-
quarters of all caregivers of aging relatives are women. The
Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 addresses both child and
family needs by allowing up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave
annually for the birth or adoption of a child or the serious illness
of a family member.

As a result of conflicting family roles and responsibilities,

women embrace the idea of flexible scheduling. Flexible
scheduling allows women to set their own hours within limits set
by corporate policy or practice. While companies must bear the
costs of complicated schedules, they reap the benefits of
increased productivity as women arrange schedules to meet
their familial responsibilities. Almost 60 percent of all women
would prefer a job with flexible hours. Other arrangements, such
as job sharing, allow women to share jobs with other women in
order to accommodate home demands.

Pension plans that incorporate early vesting and portability

accommodate women's more frequent entries and exits from the
business world. Since women have not, however, typically
received the same benefits, at retirement many women find
themselves with considerably less financial security than their
male counterparts. Pension plans that require women to pay
more to participate than men are illegal since the 1978 Supreme
Court ruling on Los Angeles v. Manhart.

Read more: Women in Business - duties, benefits

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Val-
Z/Women-in-Business.html#ixzz16yugKn76
Self Motivation and Its Importance

Self motivation is very important. There are several reasons for

self motivation being so important in a person’s life. Everyone
needs to be self motivated.

Who needs motivation? All of us do. In this world of tough

competition, stress and hectic lifestyle, one surely requires a
driving force to get going. It is very important to keep up the
good work.

These days, with so many challenges and a lot of competition

one needs to survive, self motivation works like confidence
enhancer. It boosts once enthusiasm and provides energy to
work.

Self motivation is known as the most important factor in your

life. If you are looking for success in any area of your life, you
need self motivation. Self motivation plays an important role in
enhancing your self esteem. It cultivates a desire to do
something in life. Experts in the past have believed and even
proved that when self motivation is combined with self
determination, one can easily move mountains and find water in
deserts.

There are several things one can get motivated with. People get
motivated by their strong belief in the almighty. They can even
get motivated by an experience they have had or by any other
factor. These things just encourage you to change your
perspective in life. One can change in to a better person or a
better business person with self motivation.

People usually go through happy and sad times in their lives.

When thing go awry, you need to support yourself, your family
and people around you. This needs a good amount of energy
force in you. When providing support and encouragement to
your family and friends, you need to be really strong.

Some people are lucky to have good support in the times of

pathos. However, some are left alone and require a lot of
courage to survive tough times. At such times, one need to get
motivates or motivates oneself. Lack of self motivation at such
times can be damaging and even complicate your life further.

Mentioned below are some strong reasons on why you require

self motivation:

- Self motivation is extremely important when it comes to

accepting challenges and opportunities in life.

- The force of self motivation helps in planning your life and

easing the difficulties.

- Self motivation provides a new sense of purpose and direction

to your life.

- Self motivation is important to provide enthusiasm in life.

- Self motivation lets you live a fulfilling life.

- You can empower and encourage yourself to face tough times

and competition in life with the help of self motivation.

- Self motivations fill you with positive energy and boost your
enthusiasm.

- Self motivation is important for your existence. It provides you

an identity for yourself.

Motivation is a kind of driving force that encourages an

individual to get going. It is a kind of boost to the self
confidence, faith and inner conscience of a person. All of us
look for some kind of motivation in life. It is almost impossible to
face a competition, achieve success of accomplish a goal
without motivation.
Self Motivation and Its Importance
23 Apr 2008 ... Lack of self motivation at such times can be
damaging and even ... an organization can easily survive when
employees are motivated. ...
www.articlesbase.com › Health

Importance of Motivation

Motivation is a very important for an organization because of the

following benefits it provides:-

Puts human resources into action

Every concern requires physical, financial and human

resources to accomplish the goals. It is through motivation
that the human resources can be utilized by making full
use of it. This can be done by building willingness in
employees to work. This will help the enterprise in
securing best possible utilization of resources.

Improves level of efficiency of employees

The level of a subordinate or a employee does not only

depend upon his qualifications and abilities. For getting
best of his work performance, the gap between ability and
willingness has to be filled which helps in improving the
level of performance of subordinates. This will result into-

a. Increase in productivity,
b. Reducing cost of operations, and
c. Improving overall efficiency.
Leads to achievement of organizational goals

The goals of an enterprise can be achieved only when the

following factors take place :-
 d. There is best possible utilization of resources,
e. There is a co-operative work environment,
f. The employees are goal-directed and they act in a
purposive manner,
g. Goals can be achieved if co-ordination and co-
operation takes place simultaneously which can be
effectively done through motivation.
Builds friendly relationship

Motivation is an important factor which brings employees

satisfaction. This can be done by keeping into mind and
framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the employees.
This could initiate the following things:

h. Monetary and non-monetary incentives,

i. Promotion opportunities for employees,
j. Disincentives for inefficient employees.

In order to build a cordial, friendly atmosphere in a

concern, the above steps should be taken by a manager.
This would help in:

i. Effective co-operation which brings stability,

ii. Industrial dispute and unrest in employees will
reduce,
iii. The employees will be adaptable to the changes and
there will be no resistance to the change,
iv. This will help in providing a smooth and sound
concern in which individual interests will coincide
with the organizational interests,
v. This will result in profit maximization through
increased productivity.
Leads to stability of work force

Stability of workforce is very important from the point of

view of reputation and goodwill of a concern. The
employees can remain loyal to the enterprise only when
they have a feeling of participation in the management. The
skills and efficiency of employees will always be of
advantage to employees as well as employees. This will
 lead to a good public image in the market which will attract
competent and qualified people into a concern. As it is
said, “Old is gold” which suffices with the role of
motivation here, the older the people, more the experience
and their adjustment into a concern which can be of benefit
to the enterprise.

From the above discussion, we can say that motivation is an

internal feeling which can be understood only by manager since
he is in close contact with the employees. Needs, wants and
desires are inter-related and they are the driving force to act.
These needs can be understood by the manager and he can
frame motivation plans accordingly. We can say that motivation
therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is
based on needs which are unlimited. The process has to be
continued throughout.

We can summarize by saying that motivation is important both

to an individual and a business. Motivation is important to an
individual as:

1. Motivation will help him achieve his personal goals.

2. If an individual is motivated, he will have job satisfaction.
3. Motivation will help in self-development of individual.
4. An individual would always gain by working with a
dynamic team.

Similarly, motivation is important to a business as:

1. The more motivated the employees are, the more

empowered the team is.
2. The more is the team work and individual employee
contribution, more profitable and successful is the
business.
3. During period of amendments, there will be more
adaptability and creativity.
4. Motivation will lead to an optimistic and challenging
attitude at work place.

www.managementstudyguide.com/importance_of_motivation.ht
m
 Motivation in Organizations is Very Important

When in charge of a group of people, motivation is very

important. Not only for the people who comprise the group, but
for the leaders as well. This goes for any organization, whether it
be the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, a charity, or anything else
where the people of the group are all working towards a
common goal. The motivation is what got that organization
together in the first place and so it's important to keep that
motivation up throughout all your endeavors. Motivation in
organizations can be accomplished by finding whatever gets
everyone going. It won't be the same for every organization but
by finding out what that thing is, you can be sure the
organization will be successful at whatever they attempt.

Common Goals

The organization got together for a reason. That reason may be

to raise money for sick children, or it may be to raise awareness
for some other type of cause. If the organization has lagged in
attendance and people seem to be dragging their feet, it could
be because everyone forgot what they're working towards. It's
important, then, for the leaders to remind everyone what the
organization's goal is. That's how motivation in organizations is
accomplished. Every so often, set aside a day where everyone
comes together to think about and reflect on what the
organization has done so far and where they're going. That may
be just what the organization needs to get going once more.

Awards Ceremonies
Another way to create motivation in organizations is to create
awards that you present to winners on an awards night. That can
be a great motivator as it makes people feel accomplished and
valued. If people think they may win an award which will be
presented in front of the entire group, it will make everyone work
that much harder so that they can be in the running for such an
award. The awards can be printed off of any computer and set
into a nice frame. This adds a special touch and it's something
that everyone can be a part of. It also creates motivation in
organizations because everyone wants to win an award, no
matter what that award might be.

Finally, to create motivation in organizations, the leaders must

be especially motivated. If the leaders aren't motivated, chances
are the people in the group won't be either. So make sure if
you're the leader or one of the leaders of your organization, you
reaffirm your goals and go to your next meeting ready to go.
You'll see that that enthusiasm will soon carry over to everyone
else and the organization will be better because of it.

Motivation in an organizational context holds a lot of value as

employees needs to be pushed to achieve maximum results
leading to better performance of the company. Every employee
in the organization needs motivation. Rewards, incentives,
recognition, perks, praise, appraisals, gifts, awards and other
kinds of monetary or non monetary benefits motivate employees
to work and give their best in the organization.

Today, the biggest challenge of a human resource manager is to

keep the staff motivated. There are lot of programs that HR
personnel introduce to motivate the employees and keep them
enthusiastic about the work. Since motivation cannot be easily
measured, it is difficult for an HR manager to keep its staff
charged up all the time!

There are many theories on motivation that many experts in this

area have formulated. These processes are tried and tested over
a period of time and they are applied in most organizational
context. Some of the popular theories of motivation are
Maslow’s hierarchy, Herzberg’s two factor theory, Theory X and
Theory Y employee motivation theory etc.

Apart from the extrinsic motivation, employees can also

motivate themselves intrinsically. One of the common factors of
loss of motivation is unclear or poor identification of the goal.
Hence all employees in the organization need to have clear
defined goals.

Another way for an employee to keep oneself motivated is

through getting an edge over others. Learn something or
acquire a skill that differentiates you from other employees. This
helps an employee to keep himself motivated. An employee
should also set his own deadlines, boundaries and other goal
completion dates.

Giving a set time to a project helps one to feel motivated to

complete it. Last but not the least; the employee should stretch
to his or her maximum. Stretching one’s limits helps to
formulate new limits and explore new horizons that helps to
motivate oneself.