#9 Women's Work

In the past, women are the ones staying at home taking care of the domestic affairs of the family while their husbands worked hard to make ends meet. However this trend has been changing in the past few years because men are not the only ones who are able to contribute to the economy. Women have shown to be able to do so especially educated women. Therefore I do agree with the author’s view that by giving basic tools needed to earn a living such as education, training and access to capital, there are able to contribute a lot more to our economies. Reason being, it would not be wise to only give opportunities to men as women are part of the global economy too. Also, by doing so, we are not fully utilizing our resources, maximizing the potential of each and everyone.

One of the more obvious positive outcomes is the boost in economic output in countries. This has been seen in countries like Singapore and India as quoted by the author “ the states in India where women are better educated were also those higher economic growth rates.” . Employed women are able to earn extra income to the family and thus are able to spend more on their children and families. This causes higher consumption rates and help drives the economy. This might lead the country to become more develop. With more women starting businesses, it will also help decrease the unemployment rate of the country.

However negative outcomes can be caused women getting more career minded due to higher education given to them. To pursue careers, their families might thus be neglected. Children will feel less loved by their parents as both of them might be working till late hours and this will cause social problems. This has been happening in many of the developed countries.

Decrease of birth rates due to changing mindsets of women could pose another problem too. More educated women tend to focus more and more on their careers and they would prefer to work first and have late marriages shortening their child bearing years. Also some would prefer to stay single as they are able to support themselves and do not have to marry someone. This decrease in birth rate would affect the demographics of a country and would cause problems.

In the long run, the economic growth contributed by the women could close the income gap between the rich countries and the poor countries. The income gap has been a worrying problem and the rich are getting richer while the poor just gets poorer. By equipping women in poor countries with what is needed to earn a living, it could improve the situation, benefiting not only the countries but ultimately the global economy.

As we can see, the are definitely pros and cons to women joining the workforce. Preventive measures could be carried out to prevent issues such as neglecting of families. They could be taught how to juggle between their families and careers. Also companies can be more caring towards mothers and allowing them to have more flexible working hours so that they can spend more time with their families.

In conclusion, both men and women are to be given equal opportunities to contribute to a country’s economy. Help given to women of impoverished countries would be able to empower them.