Allysa Chambers

American women have seen many days of hardship and suppression. They have valiantly climbed the ladder of success and opportunity and simultaneously bridged the gender gap in salaries.
Gender discrimination laws have now been firmly imposed and men and women have equal opportunities and are receiving the same salaries for comparable jobs. And yet, even with all the advancement that has been made, individuals still use gender discrimination as a crutch to expalin why women, as a whole, make less money than men.
I recently read an article by Barbara Ehrenreich, “Guys Just Wanna Have Fun,” where Ehrenreich infers that women have begun to surpass men academically and yet, men are still more successful because the business world has recently become more aware and appreciative of personality.
I find Ehrenreich’s essay to be severely flawed. She relates to her own college experience, claiming that when she was a college student, she strategically studied subjects that were predominately occupied by males because she recognized that male students were the ones reaching the highest paid jobs after college.
She says the tables have turned and “women students are now excelling on college campuses as male students simply coast through and yet they are still seeing more success than women in the working field.”
She resorts to a report from the Washington Post, where a woman shares her story of having passed the skills test for a customer-care job but was not hired because she failed the personality test. Nowhere in the report does it indicate that the position was then given to a male candidate.
The fact that this woman was even considered for the position contradicts Ehrenreich’s theory. The woman had a fair and completely equal opportunity to get the job, but failed a key part of the hiring process. This is a customer-care position that we are discussing! Personality is the backbone of any position that requires you to interact with customers.
A troubled or upset customer has no desire to see your credentials and educational history. They want to speak to a company representative who is going to relate to them and assist in resolving whatever issue is at hand. Personality should be the number one criteria for a customer-care position!
So why are men, as a whole, still earning more than women? Because, as Ehrenreich admits, women tend to go into artsy fields such as art history, education, etc.  Someone who earns a degree in engineering or business, which are, and always have been, dominated by men, is naturally going to start off with a higher paying salary than a teacher or art major. And as college campuses become more and more occupied, a college degree is now much more common and obtainable.
Businesses now have the luxury to look further than education; they can look at applicants as individuals and decide based on things such as work ethic, morals, and personality, if they will be a good asset to their workforce.
Overall, my frustration lies in the fact that Ehrenreich thinks publishing an article, complaining about the privation of success women see, is going to actually help women in the long run. It’s not! The article should have been titled, “Women Just Want to Make Excuses.” Stop complaining about being at a disadvantage. Being a woman is not a handicap. Step up and BE the change you want to see.
Legal protections prohibit discrimination by gender. So women have equally as much of an opportunity to succeed as men do. Will they potentially have to work harder to prove to certain people that they are, in fact, worthy of certain positions? Possibly. Do men not face the same complications in fields that are typically dominated by women? If the business world is incorporating a greater emphasis on personality, as opposed to hiring strictly based off credentials, then contenders, male or female, need to acknowledge this inclination and mold themselves to fit it. The business industry has no concern about your gender. The business industry is about being on top. And businesses will procure anyone they feel can help get them there; male or female. It’s about who can do the job best.