Workers in the Future

This project began as a way to identify and evaluate the challenges that women face working outside the home. These challenges, initially called "women's issues" have evolved. Once considered a "woman's domain," responsibility for childcare, elder care, grocery shopping, laundry, and spouses fell primarily to women to accomplish, whether they work outside the home or not. Women still experience the "double duty" of work life and home life, but today men are contributing significantly to ease that burden. Now these issues are concerning to both men and women, husbands, and wives. 

There are still challenges that remain unique for women. Even though there are numerous laws prohibiting sexism and discrimination, abuses still occur. Gendered expectations, especially of mothers, persist in affecting women in the workplace. Women deal with issues involving childcare/eldercare, pay imbalance, and equality but more and more people recognize them as "human" issues. Regardless of how they are perceived, they are primarily affecting women working outside the home. 

Since 1972, women have had legally protected access to higher education and can be found in senior level management and labor careers around the country. They are in the courts as judges and lawyers, in politics as governors, Senators, Representatives, and even Vice President. They are in the military, medicine, and the ministry. Progress has occurred but there is still much change needed to improve the working lives of all people.

Room for Change

• Childcare/Eldercare

 Many companies provide on-site childcare but there remains a great need for quality care at affordable prices.

•  Pay Equity

 A gender wage-gap still plagues the American worker, and many jobs, primarily held by women, pay less than those held by men. 

• Equality 

There are many fields and careers perceived as closed to women despite laws to the contrary. Companies need to cultivate worker-friendly environments that welcome anyone and provide more support to workers.

 These are just a few of the issues working people are grappling with. The recent health crisis in 2019-2020 has only exacerbated conditions and made them more visible to the public. 

This project is made possible through a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council and support from the Vivo center, the Charles Darling Endowed Chair in American Social History, the Women's Studies Program and the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown State University. To see full exhibit please visit us at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.