Discrimination against women has been a large part of society in America and Europe since the beginning of time. Equal rights for women and their rights in the workforce are still being separated from men, by women making significantly smaller salaries than men. Many acts and laws have been passed by American and European countries to promote equal rights but on no account has change been seen. The equal treatment of women in Europe is progressing more than in America due to the European Union which calls for equal treatment in the workforce. Many factors such as maternity and female stereotypes contribute to the reason why women’s salaries are severely lower than a male’s. Even with the laws and acts passed by Europe and America promoting equal rights to women and equal rights in the workforce, women still acquire a lesser wage than a male performing the same identical job today because of diverse influences, social status and perceptions in society. The stereotype against women’s wages still exists today in both America and Europe regardless of the laws that are put into place. Aspects of gender play a significant role in comparative gender history. In the twentieth century, it was unspecified by law that women had to receive equal wages and benefits as males. Perceived by society, a women’s role was in the household. A majority of women in the early twentieth and later nineteenth century stayed home with the children, cooked, cleaned and kept house while the men were at work to provide for the family. The role women played in the early twentieth century and late nineteenth century in the household is where the stereotypical idea that women belong in the household and not the workforce derived. It was hard for women to break free from this social norm because it had been seen in society for so long that a woman’s place was in the household. “Had the workplace initially been designed to include both men and women and to recognize that most people in the workplace also raise children, the design would be different today.” If the social norm that a woman belongs in the household to raise children was different from the beginning, then society would view the role women play in society today differently. As time went on, women wanted to become part of the workforce. Women in the late nineteenth century were not allowed to have jobs or vote. Women began to want to have roles in society, to be allowed to work and vote as a male did and have equal rights. Many feminists who wanted to change the way society ran came together and started a reform, the women’s rights movement. Women fought for equal rights as men to be able to go to work and receive wages. The Seneca Falls convention was held in 1848 and this is what started the spin off to allow women to work in society and the promotion of equal rights. Women began working in the late nineteenth century, taking jobs in factories operating machinery. This was the first time it was acceptable for women to leave the household and step into society. Women worked long days in extr