Letters to the Editor
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One issue about women in the work force
The only argument one can make for the work place being a worse place with women in it, is that the larger labor pool (men and women as opposed to just women) driving down the price for labor.
It's hard to find real evidence to support this claim, but it is an argument one can and does make, though it is more commonly used against immigrants than women (female immigrants of course being the worst for your economy, by this line of thinking).
The other place of course, where working women (or more specifically the expansion of women's opportunity) is in the "traditionally" female fields.
When scientists could only be science teachers, we as a nation rose technologically...now that are science teachers are only those with a passion for the field, and those scientists not good enough to get a job in a lab, our technology theoretically suffers.
Think about it, the countries on the rise in the east, all have much stronger social mores regarding a woman's place, and this helps their education system.
I am joking of course, what limited loss we have in women teachers and qualified nurses we have more than made up with advances made by female scientists and doctors.
No what the article misses is that, women weren't supposed to change the work world upon entering it, any more than immigrants or any other group has or could.
In a capitalist society we are all the masters of our own human capital which we trade for wealth. The more we trade of our human capital the more personal wealth we create. Therefore, the more wealth that exists in a society the more people will trade on themselves to aquire a piece of said wealth. That is the system, the only system that works in our society. If we weren't capitalist, if we were a centrally managed economy, someone might designate time for labour and time for self fullfillment, in that environment however, the state may decide that women are better suited to more traditional roles, which doesn't solve the problem really. In as far as it is beneficial to our customers (our employers) work life balance is encouraged in our system, but in the end it is our own desire for profit that motivates the American work ethic.
We work ourselves to death, because we wish to have a more affluent life. So long as the system allows for the accumulation of personal wealth, said accumulation will always cause people to work harder for more.