Women in the Workforce: Side effects & Solutions

From a Traditional Women’s Wellness Perspective

The Herstory

During the Industrial Revolution, women were making way in the workforce, increasingly gaining employment in factories and mills. They worked long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and were often paid far less than men for doing the same work. There was little to no legal protection or recourse if they were mistreated by their employers.*

The ‘Labor Day’ tradition was established as a day to celebrate the members of trade and labor unions who were fighting for laborers facing unfair wages and poor working conditions during this time. The feminism movement argued that women were just as capable as men, and that they deserved equal rights and opportunities in all areas of life. While progress was slow, these early feminist efforts laid the groundwork for the women's rights movement that would emerge in the decades and centuries to come.

The 'Side Effects'

Women moving into the workforce had two major ‘side effects’ that I’d like to bring to the light, in honor of this year’s Labor Day.

• Sisterhood and the tradition of ‘Women’s Circles’ were hindered by women moving into the workforce. The long hours and poor working conditions in factories often left women with little time or energy for socializing outside of work. Additionally, many women were forced to leave their homes and families to work in factories, which disrupted traditional family structures and social networks. Furthermore, the exploitation of female labor during this time led to the perception of women as inferior and led to a devaluation of women's work.

• Prior to the Industrial Revolution, midwifery was a respected profession that was passed down through generations of women in families and communities. However, with the advent of the modern medical industry and the rise of hospital births, traditional midwifery began to decline. Efficiency and productivity were at the forefront of our culture’s mind, and by 1939, 50% of babies in America were born in a hospital, compared to just 5% in 1901. Interestingly enough, multiple studies show that maternal mortality rates went up at this time under the care of doctors. However, the push away from midwifery continued through the 1960s, when 96% of babies were born in hospitals. Many doctors pushed for licensing and stricter regulations for their female counterparts, the midwives, while others called for the elimination of midwifery altogether.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

The balance lies in post-modern wellness and community culture for women.

“Postmodernism is best understood as a questioning of the ideas and values associated with a form of modernism that believes in progress and innovation. [This is a] critical project, revealing the cultural constructs we designate as truth and opening up a variety of repressed other histories of modernity.”**

“Community culture, sometimes called "folklore" or "folklife," is the living expression of culture in everyday life—anyone's culture—learned and passed on informally from person to person. It must be alive and current to be folklife, though it may have existed over long stretches of time. Everywhere people take the experiences of their lives and transform them into song, story, decoration, ritual, and celebration—examples of what folklorists call "expressive culture." When such expressions communicate the shared experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a group, and are passed on to others, they become traditions.”***

Our Solution: The MM Wise Woman Model of Care

Working with women allows us to reach the entire family unit, the entire community. Our 'woman-at-the-center' approach allows our mission to ripple throughout households and lineages.

1. The Sun Cycle- Align your day with the Ayurvedic Elemental Wheel to master the mundane and flow with the natural seasons of each day.

2. The Moon Cycle- Learn to know your menstrual cycle as your Fifth Vital Sign. We can work with our body’s to create harmony and ease, rather than chaos and dis-ease.

3. The Earth’s Rhythm- Live in congruence with the Earth by understanding practical applications of the Wheel of the Year for seasonal living.

Learn more in our book, The Wheel of the Woman- available on all book platforms.

Xo, MM

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