Beyond Bifurcation: Femininity and Professional Success in a Changing World

In a society that has only recently begun to recognize women as equals, the United States has undergone rapid change. In my own lifetime I have witnessed the expanding opportunities available to women, and am grateful for the chance to enter into such a diverse labor force. I am eager to prove my ability as a woman and as a professional. There is a constant struggle in my life to fulfill my goals of achievement, in a world controlled by masculinity, and to also embrace my femininity. As the role of women has changed so rapidly, women have faced the separation of femininity and identity. At one point femininity constituted a woman's identity. This is not to say that femininity does not continue to play a significant role but that there are more aspects to how a woman defines herself than femininity alone. Femininity is a broad set of characteristics that impinge upon many aspects of life, some that may resist other qualities important in today's changing world. Throughout history women have played a subservient role to men. Women's responsibilities included taking care of the home and children while men were free to find success outside of the home. Women were not given the right to vote or to seek further education until fairly recently in history. Even as late as the 1950s, only a half century ago, the majority of women were viewed as childish and feeble-minded in comparison to men. The women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought on enormous change in the view of women. Women entered the workforce and pursued degrees, proving their abilities in a male dominated arena. Although women were able to confirm their rights and their abilities, they are still expected to fulfill the classically feminine role of the caregiver. Many working women find themselves balancing a career, family, and housework. Now a woman must embody the expectations of dual roles. They must fulfill the functions of both a career and a family, a responsibility that despite progress made regarding women's equality remains persistently female. The pressure to balance two distinct and opposing identities is felt by many women, including myself. The qualities continually associated with womanhood include nurturance, sexuality, physical appearance, and a sweet, easy-going personality. These traits can only be considered weaknesses in the professional arena where assertive and aggressive qualities (qualities that are characteristically male) are rewarded. In order to compete, working women generally learn to suppress their femininity. In the educational realm I become very conscious of what features I portray to my peers, often overcompensating for my femininity, or what I feel could be perceived as a weakness in the eyes of others, by striving for perfection. In many instances, more subconsciously than not, I tend to work hard to prove my intelligence as a way of defending my femininity, which I am reluctant to abandon. Growing up I learned how to act out the role of a woman. I watched as the women in my life took sole responsibility for cooking, cleaning, and child rearing. I played with dolls and pretended to cook the way I saw my mother and other women cook. With friends I grew interested in boys and clothes along with other things girls are supposed to be interested in. I learned that dressing "pretty" and responding politely gave me a favorable response. Eventually, these values associated with femininity became embedded in me. There are several theories that explain social learning and the internalization of these norms. The phenomenological perspective in sociology questions many of the aspects of culture we take for granted. "Phenomenology asks us not to take the notions we have learned for granted, but to question them instead, to question our way of looking at and our way of being in the world" (Wallace and Wolf, 253). We see an example of this in the film, Twelve Angry Men, where the characters learn to question what they believe to be facts. …