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Occupation: More than just a job

If you were to ask random people how they would define occupation a vast majority of the responses would be job or employment. While that is one definition of occupation, occupational therapists use another definition. Introduction to Occupational Therapy by Jane Clifford O'Brien defines occupation as "Activity in which one engages that is meaningful and central to one's identity." Today in class, we learned about decades from the 30's to modern day. We learned about the society, politics, big events, education, healthcare, occupational therapy, work, and leisure. With each presentation it was interesting to see how each topic of the presentation changed, specifically occupations, the OT definition. One occupation that changed throughout the time periods was the role of women. With the start of World War II, women went from keeping the house and children together to working and keeping the house and children together. After soldiers returned home from war, women were forced to return to the home. The Civil Rights Movement sparked the call for equality for all and gave women an opportunity to voice their opinions about wanting role outside of the home. Fast forward to present day and we have women who are the CEO's of major companies, such as IBM, Pepsi, General Motors and many more. Some women found that an activity that they engaged in, found meaningful, and was central to their identity, after having a job outside of the home, had changed. In other words, their occupation had changed and so had their view of where they fit into society.

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