Greater Equality of Women in New Gilded Age by Beyonce

Beyonce, in her song Flawless (Knowles para.6), shows how previous generations affect young womens perceptions of themselves:

We say to girls

You can have ambition

But not too much

You should aim to be successful

But not too successful

Otherwise, you will threaten the man.

When listening to the song, I realize that today many people live in an old Gilded Age, while we are supposed to enter the new one. These thinking patterns have a detrimental effect on our society: taking the world for granted, people refuse to join the struggle for equality. It seems that our new Gilded Age is far more advanced than the old one, but an attentive citizen could easily realize that our society still could not eliminate the old Age problems.

When comparing the situation in labor and professional spheres in the old Gilded Age and new one, it is clear that the struggle of women activists was fruitful. By 1910, women comprised 20% of the paid workforce, majorly working in solely feminine fields, and regarded their jobs as a temporary state before marriage (McKnight Nichols and Unger 92). Many women were unemployed, dedicating themselves to their children and family. Working women often played auxiliary roles providing help to more influential males and rarely became leaders. Nowadays, women spend only 15.4% of their time doing unpaid domestic chores (United States of America, para.20).

There are also 41.1% of women performing managing responsibilities (United States of America, para.25-6). Thus, society experienced great changes, and modern women obtain fascinating opportunities for self-actualization as professionals.

However, modern life could not be considered ideal: there are certain gaps in wealth and income among men and women. As the main workforce in in-person jobs, women suffered from the pandemic limitations, and many mothers have to resign from their jobs (Gender Economic Inequality). Many women receive the minimum wages and have lesser retirement savings. Women of color also still face racial discrimination. Therefore, the struggle for equality is far from its end: there are still many burning issues.

In the 20^th 21^st centuries, the perception of traditional womens roles as mothers and housewives, low-paid servants, and helpers for men underwent significant reconsideration. Modern women are free to pursue their careers, competing with men as equals. However, people of the new Gilded Age still face old problems, such as double discrimination of women of color, gender gaps in income and wealth, increased vulnerability to critical events.