that time. From equal rights movements re-surging all over the country to Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. making heated speeches about equality for all the citizens of this country, the unrest translated into the government paying an increased amount of attention and focusing on calming the loud voices. As a result of the efforts by the equal rights movements, the Congress passed an Equal Pay Act in 1963, which rendered discrimination based on a person's sex illegal. With more rights and the law of their side, many women were finally able to leave their homes and venture out into the working world for the first time in their lives. While the Equal Pay Act did little to enforce same salaries for men and women, it created a much needed boost in confidence for those women who were afraid of being discriminated on their jobs.
The infamous "glass ceiling" was the next obstacle a lot of working women faced on a job. Whether the excuses were that women are more likely to leave their jobs because of family obligations or that men were more experienced, most women saw and continue seeing to this day a pay gap, as compared to their male counter parts. Even today, a lot of women do not get paid the same amount of money per hour, even though they are as qualified as their male co-workers to do the job.
More over, a major obstacle and a big problem a lot of women in the workforce faced was the, often persistent, sexual harassment they had to endure from their male co-workers. Not used to competing against women for jobs and promotions, many men, including those in high managerial positions, used derogatory statements and inappropriate sexual advances to make women feel inadequate and insecure. As many men today, especially the younger ones, are getting used to the idea of working and partnering up with women on projects and assignments, sexual harassment is becoming less invasive and much less outward. Though so-called 'boys clubs' are still very much alive and well, many women are taking up the power reigns and creating their own versions of 'girls clubs', where powerful, educated women lean on each other for support, as they advance on their career ladders. Needless to say, sexual harassment cases are still existent as well, despite all the progress made in the last couple of decades - in 2007, for example, more than twelve thousand new harassment complaints were filed - strong evidence that sexual harassment is far from being extinct.
Today, the best profession
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