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Career Woman

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A Career Woman is known as a woman whose main priority in life is achieving success in her career and profession. [1] These women can also be described as a woman who is more interested in her career than in being married and having children. [2] Career Women tend to work harder for what they want in their career paths, even if it means that they have to shatter through the glass ceiling that is heavily imposed upon them.

Clinton's Acceptance to Presidential Nomination. A Bigger crack to the current Glass Ceiling

The Glass Ceiling

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The Glass Ceiling is an imaginary ceiling posed upon women. It is recognized as an upper limit to professional advancement that is not readily perceived or openly acknowledged. [3] This term is used throughout many careers around the world, from restaurants, to businesses, films and politics today's interpretation of the phrase is reaching new heights.

After the historic nomination of Democratic Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, many women in their fields started to open up on what it meant breaking that ceiling and all that they had to go through to get there. Women in power struggle to make it to the top compared to their male counterparts. Women in power are based upon their looks compared to how they take action. From their stylish outfits that are "distracting" to their male colleagues, to having the media wanting to do a photo shoot and see what that woman in power is wearing [4] usually takes a toll on a woman.

Yet this imaginary ceiling is just a metaphor use as a symbol of hope that woman can hold the same values that their male counterparts hold. Yet too fully under this term, the portrayal of this term in the media has an effect on how this issue is really taken into consideration.

The Media

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Women are seen as the caregivers for a family, while the men are seen as the ones that bring the bread to the table. Back in the old day the "ideal" woman was seen as a trophy wife. A woman that was just a stay at home wife, did the house chores and made sure to please the husband once he arrived from his long day of work. Yet this "ideal" woman is changing throughout time. In today's society men view women with careers to be something great. From a study done by American Journal of Sociology, a majority of the men in today's era are looking for a woman who can economically pull her own weight in the relationships. [5]

Yet even in today's every day late shows as Family Guy, The Simpsons, and shows from the 90s such as Dexter's Laboratory, The Jetsons and The Flintstones the women are shown throughout the eyes of the media as the "ideal" woman that some men would like to have. The media is a tough critic for seeing women success and even in making a joke about the portrayal of the Glass Ceiling.

In the media the glass ceiling is nothing else other than a joke to entertain those who believe that a woman place in society should be at home, being a housewife. Yet the portrayal of the glass ceiling in media brings media bias against women, manifested through multiple was through television.[6] Throughout the findings of the research of the media films tend to portray women in a negative view to make them feel less than their male counterparts. The findings showed that film portrayals of career women are negative and stereotype-threatening characteristics, which included mean and conniving personalities, promiscuity, isolation, failures at intimacy and inability to balance work and family. [6]

Television

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As the topic of the glass ceiling still is around today, continuing with the media, the most resourceful way to understand how the media shows the way that women in power are depicted is by some of today's most famous Television shows and series.

Television Shows and It's way of viewing women in Power

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Women are shown to be more in power throughout the ages, from becoming Business owners to politicians, handling a career may seem like too "much" for a woman to do. Yet as time goes on, our world is ever evolving and having women in television shows in power demonstrate the toughness of a woman.

Shows such as Scandal, in which the main protagonist is Kerry Washington, who she takes on the role as Olivia Pope. The show describes Washington's character as someone who is dedicated her life to protecting and defending the public images of the nation's elite by keeping those secrets under wraps. [7] From protecting the President of the United States, to keeping the country from knowing all the secrets that are held throughout politics, it is shown that Washington's character has the stamina and determination to overcome that boundary that is put up against women in today's world. Yet with Washington's character in Scandal being a tough woman, Hollywood still tries to undermine that glass ceiling by having a male counterpart try in every way, shape or form to stop that woman in power.

Additionally, in today's world having women in power is still something that many have to see as the new "normal". To make that possible is the creator of Scandal, Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes is the perfect example of a woman making it, breaking the glass ceiling in a profession which was predominately thought to be male controlled for a long time. Rhimes is a true example of a Career woman because she did everything in her power to assure that she can become the successful woman that she is today. The way that Rhimes conducts herself and wields her power did not come naturally; it’s something she had to learn. [8] This is a woman that has shown charisma to others, demonstrating young girls that anything that you put your heart to, you can accomplish it. Rhimes has done it so eloquently by putting her main actors in her shows as strong determining women like her that wields their power from within.

Films

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Women such as Kerry Washington, Shonda Rhimes, Viola Davis, and many more have demonstrated and even have made it look easy to get a job in Hollywood. Yet people overlook or even pretend that this issue doesn't exist. That issue is that women in films are made into a joke or pushed over just to have their male counterparts look better or even seem more successful to keep challenging the idea of the Glass Ceiling. Women in the film industry, are one of toughest career women that there can be in the world. From taking criticism from the media to even fans, they push to live the most normal lives that they can.

Hollywood is a tough business to get into, yet there is a saying that men ride the escalator to success, while women have to climb and battle their way in order to get that success and sometimes even shatter that highest of ceilings that might just may seem impossible. Actresses tend to be more harassed in the lineup of questioning that they have to handle. Such example can be seen with Actresses and Comedian Tina Fey. When Fey, a mother, was promoting a movie Date Night, she starred in with Steve Carell, a father of two kids and star of his own sitcom, Fey noticed that she would often been grilled by the media on how she balances her life, but the media would never pose the question to her male costar at all. [9] Fey continue on mentioning that both mothers and fathers that are employed struggle with multiple responsibilities, but at the end of the day mothers have to endure the rude questions and accusatory looks that remind them of shortchanging their jobs and their children.

Is Being a Career Woman Just a Myth?

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To the question about a Career Woman being just a myth, the honest answer to it is no. In today's society woman want a challenge, they want to demonstrate that they too can do what their male counterparts can do. Some have even proven to be better at a certain job than what a man is capable of doing. Yet women are asked all the time, especially if they have a family, Can they have it all? In the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, she is able to offer the most reasonable response to that question, and that is no. Instead she offers the question that should be imposed is "Can we do it All?" and again her response to that self-posed question is no. [9] Sandberg goes on to describe that being a parent means that you are prepared to make adjustments, compromises, and sacrifices every day, and for a lot of people, sacrifices and hardships are not a choice, but more or less a necessity to live on. [9]

Today's Example of Career Women

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The following are examples of women doing the best they can to succeed in what is predominantly a male controlled world, in which women are trying their best to shatter the glass ceiling all that they can.

The First American Woman:

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This will contain a list of American women that have shatter the glass ceiling in their own ways.

Business[10]
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-Arabella Mansfield-became a lawyer in 1869

-Katharine Graham-became CEO of a Fortune 500 firm in 1972 (for Washington Post)

-Janet Yellen-became chairperson of the Federal Reserve Board in 2014

Politics[10]
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-Nancy Pelosi-became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007

-Jeannette Rankin-was Elected to the US House of Representatives in 1916

-Hillary Clinton-became the first female candidate for a Major Political Party in the US in 2016

-Madeleine Albright-became US Secretary of State in 1997

Military[10]
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-Nancy Ruth Mace-Graduated from the Citadel (formerly an all-male military school) in 1999

-Anna Leah Fox-received a Purple Heart in 1942

-Mary Clarke-Achieve the rank of Major General in the US Army

-Shiela Widnall-Head of the Air Force in 1993

Recreational[10]
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-Jennifer Welter-coach an NFL Team in 2015

-Amelia Earhart-Fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1926

Living Proof

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As time goes on there is only one message and that is that any little girl or young woman can accomplish anything they put their hearts to because if those women can accomplish all what they have done, then there is nothing that can stop this momentum of shattering the glass ceiling and become a successful career woman. If there is any inspiration or hope that one can hang on to for become a successful career woman it is what Hillary Clinton said during the Democratic Convention, “I can’t believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet, If there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say: I may become the first woman president, but one of you is next". [11] Although she didn't win the election this message was set out to inspire multiple little girls and young women to never give up their fight for what they have worked for their entire lives.

References

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  1. ^ "career girl | Definition, meaning & more | Collins Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  2. ^ "career woman definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary". www.macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  3. ^ "the definition of glass ceiling". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  4. ^ Editor, Emily Peck Executive; Business; Technology; Post, The Huffington (2016-07-28). "What Happens After You Crack The Glass Ceiling". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-11-21. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ "11 Qualities of the Perfect Woman". Men's Health. 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  6. ^ a b Ezzedeen, Souha (2015). "Portrayals of career women in Hollywood films: implications for the glass ceiling's persistence". Gender in Management. 30.3: 239–264 – via ProQuest Central.
  7. ^ "About Scandal TV Show Series". ABC. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  8. ^ Paskin, Willa (2013-05-09). "Network TV Is Broken. So How Does Shonda Rhimes Keep Making Hits?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  9. ^ a b c Sandberg, Sheryl (2013). Lean In: Women, Work, and The Will to Lead. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 122–123. ISBN 978-0-385-34994-9 – via Print.
  10. ^ a b c d "shattering the glass ceiling". Radha Mehta. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  11. ^ "DNC: Hillary Clinton shares empowering message for young girls". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.