One of the interesting social upheavals of the present era is the emancipation of women from the bondage of age-old prejudice and traditions which restrict the sphere of woman’s activity to within the narrow confines of the home. The spread of education has enabled women to smash open the panes of the stuff. Ignorant conservatory and come into the open world to take their place and contribute their share to the exciting experience of creating a new society with new conditions of life.
As a result, the modern woman or girl behaves as a more assertive and independent personality than her counterpart in the old society. Women now play a prominent role in practically all walks of life. Even among the small band of celebrated personalities who have cruised through outer space there is a woman. The formidable challenge women offer to men in nearly all categories of employment is an indication of the increasingly important part women play in society.
The modern woman has become a relentless hunter of jobs. A great many girls are going to get themselves employed in profession or trade. Whether modern girls like it or not they have resign themselves to the fact that in any type of employment their work will occupy at least six hours a day, five days a week, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Herein lays the strongest argument which should influence a girl’s decision in choosing the right type of job with a future rather than one without any prospect. It is here that one finds it difficult to persuade a girl to look ahead to the type of salary and position she can expect when she grows old, and the discourage her from plunge headlong from school or University into a job which does notslo1d out a good future for her.
The question is how does a girl just leaving school with the idea of embarking on a professional career. Decide which is the most suitable job for her? In most cases girls grow up with some preconceived idea about the career they wish to choose. Such opinion is formed in different ways. They may. Have been planted in the yang minds by parents or by elder members of the family. And young minds being fertile, these ideas take deep root, thereby forming fixed impressions. There are instances when parents, much against the advice of teachers, insist that their daughter should become a doctor simply because it is a family tradition that most of the members of their family have entered the medical profession. In some cases disillusionment comes about through fanciful thinking. Many small girls often express their desire to become a nurse, probably because they are attracted by the uniform of the nurse when they had an occasion to see a nurse on duty in a local hospital, or it may be because the intelligent members of the family might have always gone for medicine, and so the poor girl grows up with .the idea that to become a doctor is her natural choice.
The success of a school friend, with quite different abilities and attitudes, in a particular career is also responsible for forming the wrong idea that they could do equally well in that career. Then again, by reading magazines, and seeing films they learn about the glamorous life of the air hostess or film actress and so decide upon such a career. One of the strongest appeals in the choice of a career is the salary one could get from any particular type of job. Girls then make the decision to enter that particular type of employment only for the sake of the high salary prospects.
All in all such notions about future careers are based on wrong assumptions. In the choice of a career a girl should take into account, not only one factor, but many factors such as her ability. Her aptitude, her temperament and the prospects in terms of salary. Conditions of service and possibilities of advance.
The opportunities for careers are many for a modern girl. With the rapid growth of industrialization these opportunities are bound to multiply. In the face of such a wide variety of openings for careers, it is very difficult for the modem girl, without help or guidance, to make a judicious choice of the profession best suited to her. Very often parents ask how it is possible to help their daughter decide on the type of career they want. The answer lies in the establishment of vocational or career guidance departments as an integral part of our secondary schools system in order to specialize in giving expert guidance to pupils regarding their careers. And thus direct them to the appropriate professions.