Women Breadwinners

By:
Arcelia Orozco-Medina

MGMT 358 – Culture & Gender Issues in Management

Dr. Dolores Olson

August 7, 2013

Women of Yesteryear

The traditional women has always been portrayed as the home caretaker, but was this always the case. We can look into centuries of history and see women of different eras and of different ethnic backgrounds, were they a picture of the traditional woman? Let’s look at some examples; let’s turn back the clock to Egyptian times. During the 15th Century B.C. there was Hatshepsut a women of political power promoting trade and arts. It wasn’t until a later times that she received the title of Pharaoh, Queen of Egypt. She was also one of the first known finding in Egyptian history. We follow with the most famous and ambitious of all, Cleopatra. She is mostly know for her struggles to win the crown and keep her country free among other things. She was with Julius Caesar, Roman general bearing him a son. Additionally she won the protection of Rome through an affair with Mark Anthony, and had three children with him. A lesser-known fact is that Cleopatra was highly educated and possessed an impressive intellect, being a student of philosophy and international relations We move now to the Victorian times and start off with Joan of Arc. Joan came from a peasant family, became a French heroine by leading the army of Charles VII. She captured and put on trial for witchcraft and fraud. She eventually just convicted wearing male clothes, an offense against the Church, sentenced and burned at the stake. Her legend grew and she became canonized in 1920…Saint Joan of Arc. Another woman during this era was Catherine de Medici, born into the influential Medici family of Florence, Italy. Catherine married into politics to Henri, Duke of Orleans, who later became