Discrimination against women

Discrimination against women

Identification of Discrimination

Discrimination is a situation where certain categories of people are exposed to unjust and prejudicial treatment on the grounds of sex, age or race (Krieger, 2014). In most cases, people are discriminated based on the category in which one belongs rather than basing it on an individual attribute. Sometimes discrimination may entail differential treatment of a given group of people or an individual based on their perceived membership, especially in a particular social category.

Discrimination is based on societal norms, rules, and roles, which instructs and encourage men to feel superior to women. This is the reason why men devalue women even in developed economies such as the US where there are laws, which discourage such behaviors (Krieger, 2014). Thus, discrimination against women prevents them from having certain rights and opportunities like the ones enjoyed by other members of the group. This in turn ends up causing the exclusion of a given entity based on potentially illogical as well as irrational decisions.

In the contemporary world, many companies are fond of using discriminatory policies, ideas, traditions as well as laws which in turn affects a specific portion of the members of staff (Dipboye, 2013). As a result, many companies have recognized the need to take some affirmative action’s when addressing the issue of discrimination. Some of these policies have been instituted to offer more opportunities to underrepresented groups such as women and people with disabilities. This is because women have experienced discrimination in the workforce for many years in terms of hiring, pay, and promotions.

Discrimination Against Women

In the US it is a common practice for women to be subjected to subtle discrimination by men in the workplace. This kind of discrimination arises due to societal norms, rules, and laws which make men feel superior to women. Sometimes, women may be subjected to both pregnancy discriminations as well as gender discrimination. Under pregnancy discrimination, qualified women may be passed over for promotions just because they are pregnant (Krieger, 2014).

One the other hand, some of them may fail to get promotions because they might become pregnant. In such cases, there are high chances that the said jobs will be offered to their male counterparts who are less qualified. This is despite the fact that the selected people lack the required competencies and skills to accomplish that particular task. This kind of behavior has been witnessed in the US for many years although this country has anti-discriminatory laws which are designed to reduce discrimination against women. There are also instances where women are judged based on their dress code (Hoffman et al., 2017).

Therefore, it is unethical for a person to discriminate others based on their gender. The idea behind the introduction of many reforms in organizations is to ensure that those who are hired to perform some tasks are ethically and competitively selected. This strategy will readily remove some barriers which tend to favor men against women in taking new roles within organizations. Once all the barriers are removed women will be able to take on new function to achieve the highest ranks in different organizations (Dipboye, 2013). As a result, they will be able to take new roles, which were fundamentally taken by men. Initially, “glass ceiling” policies were viewed as discriminatory in many ways. Firstly, they prevented women from achieving the highest ranks in “organizations”, especially those concerning top-level management. Most of these ranks are only meant for men. These policies are also known to award men better pay as well as extra off days as compared to women. Some of these policies are usually based on unmerited gender partiality and tend to make women suffer more than men. Discrimination against women has also been proliferated by some of the management practices which tend to favor advancement for men as opposed to women.

Organizations must learn that violence against women affects all members of the organization (Dipboye, 2013). This is because once women are discriminated they cannot deliver their mandates fully. Also, organizations which discriminate women should know that they are violating human rights. Therefore, women should be given a chance to live a life free of violence and discrimination. Organizations must also know that discrimination against women is one of the most expensive things they will encounter. Some of the costs associated with this type of behavior include the loss of productivity as well as medical costs in case one needs the attention of a healthcare practitioner (Dipboye, 2013).

There is the need for both the general public and employers to recognize the importance of diversity in all their activities. For instance, during the employee selection “process”, the management of the hiring organization should ensure that there is logic and rationality when making such decisions. Besides, it has become practically impossible to end sex-based discrimination due to invalidation. This process usually affects women since it makes them feel invalidated as compared to male counterparts. As such, it makes them perform less actively hence most of them stand a risk of being fired. For an elongated period of time, many organizations have failed to communicate or address some of the challenges women go through in the hands of men in the workplace environment. Some of these failures arise due to lack of an effective system of communication (Dipboye, 2013).

Organizations should come up with valid ways of reducing discrimination against women as well as improving both gender collaboration and boosting teamwork. Once necessary measures are put in “place”, many companies will readily overcome some of the prominent obstacles which prevent teamwork in a given workplace environment. In the contemporary world, many companies have started recognizing the importance of creating diversity in teamwork.

This is because most of them have realized the pertinent role played by women. As a result, giving women a chance to actively engage themselves in teamwork will translate to increased productivity. Companies should, therefore, acknowledge the presence of women rather than discriminate them based on their gender. They should engage them in open discussions to make them more productive rather than diminishing them in favor of their male counterparts.

Part 2

Analysis of the Problem

The gender of a person is identified immediately after birth (Bielby & Baron, 2016). There are those who go to an extent of identifying gender when a child is being conceived. In this case, a person can either be identified as male or female. In many societies’ boys are highly regarded as compared to girls. This is because boys are perceived to hold important positions in society. This is despite the fact that boys and girls possess similar strengths and height during infancy. As time goes by girls are seen as inferior creatures. This is because boys seem to be engaged in every undertaking within the society. The scenario where boys are favored to girls is also eminent in schools. At this juncture you find teachers giving boys more attention as compared to girls. As boys proceed into adulthood they usually have this notion that girls are always inferior to them (Bielby & Baron, 2016).

It is quite amazing that even developed countries such as America has witnessed many cases of discrimination amongst women (Bielby & Baron, 2016). In this country, it is difficult to find women in senior management levels. Those who have managed to get promotions have fewer authorities than their male counterparts holding similar positions. The issue of discrimination against women also extends to married couples who are working. In this case, you will find that the woman are assigned extra roles such as doing house chores as well as predominantly taking care of the children.

Research shows that gender revolt was stalling or slowing down in 1990s. This trend was made possible after several attempts by American women to seek recognition since 1970. Therefore, there seems to be some social processes, which are responsible for the perseverance of gender inequality in modern legal systems as well as the era of economic processes (Melki & Farah, 2014). Using the cultural frame women can now easily interact with their male counterparts. This move will in turn lead to the coordination of the interaction process within many companies.

When women are discriminated in organizations, they tend to lower their performance. For instance, most of them tend to lose their morale and motivation, especially when performing various tasks, which require some degree of specialization (Bielby & Baron, 2016). On the other hand, stereotypical views leveled against women in the organization tend to hinder promotions as well as forcing the management of the organization to engage themselves in illegal discriminatory hiring practices. Some of these practices are the ones, which cause women to be passed over for promotions. In addition, women may fail to get promotions due to the preconceived notion about gender.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for an elongated period men have considered themselves superior to women. This trend is also witnessed in develop economies such as America which condemns this kind of behavior. As such, women are victims of untold discrimination by their male counterparts in many organizations. Organizations should, therefore, come up with new reforms, which ensure there is a level playing ground between men and women in all aspects of the organization. This will further lead to improved productivity as well as collaboration between members of different sexes within the company.

References

Bielby, W. T., & Baron, J. N. (2016). Men and women at work: Sex segregation and statistical discrimination. American journal of sociology, 91(4), 759-799.

Dipboye, R. L., &Colella, A. (2013). Discrimination at work: The psychological and organizational bases. Psychology Press.

Herring, S. C., &Stoerger, S. (2014). Gender and (a) nonymity in computer-mediated communication. The handbook of language, gender, and sexuality, 2, 567-586.

Hoffman, J. L., McDowell, J., & Raphael, V. C. (2017). Gender Discrimination and Retaliation Under Title Ix at Fresno State. Scandals in College Sports, 216.

Melki, J., & Farah, M. (2014).Educating media professionals with a gender and critical media literacy perspective: how to battle gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the media workplace. Media and gender, 74-78.

Krieger, N. (2014). Racial and gender discrimination: risk factors for high blood pressure? Social science & medicine, 30(12), 1273-1281.