Unemployment Rates for Women higher than for Men

I was watching ABC News last night and they were talking about the unemployment rate going down.  But there was an interesting statistic included with that.  They said that 90% of men were getting the jobs.  They were saying that the thinking of employers was that men had families to support.  But the reality is that 40% of families are supported by single women. 

I have a few friends in Chattanooga who are incredibly dedicated, highly educated and very motivated to find jobs.  They are applying every where and keep running into obstacle after obstacle.  I have never been able to understand why these very employable women have not been able to get the jobs they are applying for.  Now it makes more sense.

If employers are hiring mostly men because they think they have families to support, then where does that leave all of the women who are trying to support their families?  Again, we are up against the double standard.

Jobs and salaries should be awarded on the basis of skill, not gender or race.  Women are still underpayed for the same jobs as men.  Now, women are not being hired because of a misconception that they don't have families to support. 

I know it will never happen, but I wish that employers would turn a blind eye to gender and race for a change.  I wish that skill level and loyalty and dependability were the buzzwords for hiring and keeping jobs.

I read an article the other day in More Magazine that was talking about the fact that the market is full to overflowing with Baby Boomer generation workers.  But, the employers were looking at the next generation, Generation X, and how there are about half the number of people in that generation versus the Baby Boomer generation.  The article said that employers were really starting to appreciation the Generation Xers they had on staff and they were really trying to hold onto them because there won't be as many or as skilled workers to replace them.  I read this article before I saw the newscast on ABC News and I was thinking that the employment situation was really looking up.  I guess it is, just not for women who are currently unemployed or underemployed.

I know, no one ever said that life was fair, right?  It just seems that it ought to be a little less unfair in these days.