While looking for some topics to write about for my first InStepp blog entry, I stumbled upon a holiday website, and there, I found that August 4, the day prior to the posting of this article, is Single Working Women’s Day. With that, I knew I had to write about it.
Before founding the holiday, Barbara Payne and her friends acknowledged how single working women, despite their contributions to society, did not have a holiday that honored them. Thus, Payne founded the Single Working Women’s Day, an unofficial but very relevant holiday, in 2006 in honor of the single women in the workforce who challenged the misogynist myths of society (Day Finders). Misogynist myths, especially those that say, “Women only belong in the kitchen.”, women should “just marry”, or suggest that women don’t have a choice on who or what they want for themselves.
In a 2019 CNN article by Anneken Tappe, the writer states that in 2018, unmarried women made up more than 40% of the working women population from ages 25 to 44. Moreover, these single working women, along with other working women, have made contributions of over 7 trillion dollars to the American economy. In the population of single working women, it is also important to know that some of these women are also single working mothers who head their families. As stated in the Single Mother Guide, statistics from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau show that the majority (80%) of single-parent families are headed by single mothers.
Growing up in a generation where gender roles are slowly fading, I grew up to know that being a woman is not only about marrying and becoming a mother. If you were to ask me, an individual’s life can’t be caged into only one label. The same way goes for women. Being a woman is being whatever they desire; may it be a mother or a career woman. However, it cannot be denied that there are still some societal norms that specifically put great pressure on women to marry. As Global News quotes, one reason is that “…this pressure is rooted in culture.”. For example, in an article by New York Times, in China, women in their 20s felt more pressure to find love in comparison to men of the same age range. This could have probably been because of China’s traditions and their more collective than individualistic culture. Men may also face this pressure to marry later in their adult life, however, women experience it throughout their adult lifespan (Global News). With aunts, uncles, and other relatives constantly asking them, “When are you going to marry?”, it’s common to feel pressured.
This holiday is for the single working women, some being mothers, who exist past the gender roles and societal norms that pressure them to think that they are questionable beings for not marrying. To celebrate the single working women on this holiday, Day Finders suggest acknowledging the single women you know in your life. This means you could congratulate them for existing proudly past the societal pressures put on them or give them gifts such as flowers or cards with personal messages. Additionally, you could also be a voice for single working women. As some places in the world still consider being a single woman shameful, you could be a catalyst who advocates against these pressure-causing gender stereotypes.
In the end, it is not our position to judge a woman for marrying or not marrying. Men of the same age are not shamed, so why is it different for women? Being a single working woman today should not be something to be ashamed of, but something to be proud of yourself for despite what society tells you. Let’s all break the stigma.
To all single working women out there, I wish you a happy Single Working Women’s Day!
Works Cited
Day Finders. “Single Working Women Day.” Day Finders, dayfinders.com/single-working-women-day.
Halter, Jeffery Tobias. “It’s Time To Celebrate Single Working Women’s Day.” HuffPost, 6 Dec. 2017, www.huffpost.com/entry/its-single-working-womens_b_11305384.
Patel, Arti. “Getting Married Isn’t a Requirement, so Why Do People Feel Pressure to Do It?” Global News, 9 Nov. 2018, globalnews.ca/news/4643136/marriage-pressure.
Tappe, Anneken. “There Are More Single Working Women than Ever, and That’s Changing the US Economy.” CNN, 29 Aug. 2019, edition.cnn.com/2019/08/29/economy/single-women-economy/index.html.