Women in the Workplace​—Tests and Challenges

“WOMEN have entered the formal labor force in unprecedented numbers during the past three decades.” So reports the research organization Worldwatch Institute. “In both rich countries and poor,” the report continued, “inflation encourages women to work for pay.” Or as one Nigerian woman put it: “The economic pressure is such that I just have to go out and work.”

Like the “capable wife” of Bible times, many women are happy to make a necessary economic contribution to the welfare of their families. (Proverbs 31:10, 16, 24) And some find having a job to be challenging and satisfying. But while secular work has its benefits, it may also have its drawbacks.

For example, one woman who is a store manager says: “I love my job. My boss is great, my office is beautiful. But I hate it when that job takes more of my time than I can give it, because afterward I’ve got another job waiting for me at home​—as wife and mother.” Still, many women care for job, home, and family quite ably, and for that they are to be warmly commended.a

Secular jobs, though, also expose women to a number of problems unique to the workplace. For many, the challenge is keeping a balanced attitude when forced to work in an atmosphere charged with fierce competition or thick with indifference. A desire to advance, to get ahead, has driven some women to make their jobs the main focus of their lives.

Sometimes the workplace is also a source of moral pressures. Exposure to daily doses of degrading talk is one common complaint of working women. Worse yet, some find themselves the victims of unrelenting sexual harassment. “When I first started working,” recalls one Christian woman, “I was the only girl in the office. The men would make suggestive remarks, and it was really hard for me.”

Such problems are a real concern to women who must daily face them, especially those who desire to maintain Christian standards. Happily, there is a source of real help for them.

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