**3. Conclusions**

The social stereotypes assigned according to the sexual division of labour continue to reinforce feminine and masculine roles. In the collective unconscious, a series of models of masculinity and femininity persist and condition the way of seeing and living the world, beliefs that do not admit the possibility of debate. Androcentric and patriarchal prototypes have prevailed over the characteristics of each sex and what each of them should do. As long as women were in the shadows, outside the history written by men, no one doubted that these models were social constructions with a certain intentionality: to maintain control. Therein lies the importance of questioning these models in need to overcome the ties that keep thousands of women from reproducing submissive roles that prevent their full realisation and self-determination.

It is important to emphasise that not all men are responsible or agree with what is happening. According to Herrera Gómez [9], this reality is the result of a struggle waged by the most violent men against peaceful men, women, children, and natural resources. The way in which men and women are conceived in terms of thought, culture, politics, and their relationships lead to the perception of women and men as beings with different natures. For women, when it comes to thinking, especially criticism, women are silent, obedient, and dependent on men, while men are mostly active and autonomous in thinking. Women's and men's identities are constructed under the influence of traditional stereotypes, such as hegemonic masculinity and subordinate femininity, contained in the social and cultural gender order.

Feminist theory, based on the analysis of data and concrete realities, confirms that there are innumerable circumstances that have created deep gaps between the opportunities available to men and those available to women. Despite this, far from the fantasy that women have already achieved equality, there are a number of indicators that show that gender equality is a pending issue, the consequences of which affect women's health and well-being. Discrimination is the antithesis of merit; where there

is discrimination, there is no meritocracy, and in hegemonic environments, women's efforts are not valued. In this context, glass ceilings are a cultural and structural problem that will not disappear unless concrete policies are implemented to eliminate the mechanisms that allow them to function.

Although micromachism may seem inconsequential or banal, and although many people may think that a discriminatory situation is "no big deal", its naturalisation creates an unfavourable climate for women, which threatens their personal and professional fulfilment and therefore goes against their psychological integrity, limiting the construction of their autonomy. It is a situation that can be prolonged because of its invisibility, since it does not involve obvious abuses.

To achieve equal opportunities and contribute to the construction of a culture based on an ethic of equity that allows women to improve the quality of their lives, their health and their well-being, much more than good intentions are required. It requires political will to transform structures, regulations, practices, conditions and habits. In other words, everything that is hidden in everyday dynamics and expressed naturally in their structures and organisational culture; that is, the existence of a habitus expressed in the ways of relating and interacting, such as the existence of multiple forms of segregation, the normalisation of sexist language, the tone of voice, sexist mockery, the declassification of the discourse of equality, the occasions in which women self-marginalise and lower their profile, the times when professionals hide their femininity to obtain respect and attention, the exclusion from decisionmaking spaces, the multiple additional tasks that women assume without recognition, the under-recognition of their contributions, among other factors.

Current working conditions affect women's physical and mental health, stop their full development, and limit their potential contribution to society. Work pressure, instability, fear of reprisals, and stress affect women's well-being, and maintaining these conditions prevents them from raising their professional standards. It is important to redefine historical constructs in order to dismantle the categories of patriarchal culture.

The concern for women's health care is an issue of growing interest due to the lack of institutional policies and strategies to help reconcile domestic work with work, which forces women to seek support from third parties, which conditions their working careers, especially when they have dependents. The democratisation of domestic and care work in households will only be possible through shared responsibility, which implies that men and women, as well as families, the state, and the market, share responsibility for the care and, consequently, act in a coordinated manner to distribute the time and effort required in an equitable manner. Finding the right balance between work and family responsibilities is an important challenge in forming a new social ethic.

We need to unlearn the roles acquired throughout life and perpetuated over centuries. The culture and the hegemonic mentality attempt to prevent the construction of quality relationships between men and women. One of the most widespread mental blocks is the belief that feminism is a position against men. There are still millions of reasons to keep talking about gender. There are still millions of thoughts to liberate, millions of ideas to overcome, and millions of lives to defend from normalised violence.

*For an Ethics of Equity: Working Women in the Present between Guilt and Freedom DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.112333*
